Kathmandu, December 8

Ruslan Three Star Club have been robbed of the AFC Cup second round berth by the All Nepal Football Association after the governing body missed the registration deadline.

Three Star had qualified for the second round of the inaugural tournament after finishing as the group winners in Mongolia in August. But the Asian Football Confederation has included Mongolian Erchim FC, who were runners-up to Three Star in the qualifiers, for the draw after the ANFA did not respond to its four requests sent through email.

In an email dated December 6, the AFC Competition Division Director Shin Man Gil made it clear to the ANFA that Three Star Club would not be a part of the AFC Cup 2017. The AFC had sent the entry form on September 26 and an reminder email on October 30 which clearly states the deadline of November 21 for team registration. After ANFA missed the deadline, the AFC sent another email on November 21 with extended deadline of November 23. As the ANFA remained inactive despite being asked to register the team by November 26, the AFC invited Erchim FC of Mongolia in place of Three Star.

“Following our initial letter dated 26 September 2016 and despite our reminders sent on three separate occasions — October 30, November 21 and November 25 — the AFC did not receive any reply nor did we receive the required documents from your association,” stated the email sent to ANFA General Secretary Dhirendra Pradhan by AFC Competition Division Director Gil in reply to December 5 email sent by the ANFA. “As the official draw will commence in a week’s time, we regret to inform that AFC will not be able to accept your affiliated Club’s (Three Star Club) entry into the competition.”

Three Star Club General Secretary Sanjeeb Shilpakar said the club was shocked after they came to know about the news. “We were surprised not to see Nepal in the list posted by AFC on its website. Later, we came to know that ANFA did not register our club for the tournament despite being reminded four times by the AFC,” said Shilpakar.

“We have sent a letter seeking clarification from the ANFA and once we receive their reply we will decide our further plans,” he added.

Shilpakar said the incident was a huge setback for the club as well as whole Nepali football. “The AFC never contacted us and we were in regular touch with ANFA as we needed to know the dates and venue for better preparation,” he added.

ANFA CEO Indra Man Tuladhar accepted the lapse but said he was unaware of the exact reason. “We have made a mistake and we should take moral responsibility. Currently, President Narendra Shrestha and General Secretary Dhirendra Pradhan are out of the country and they should know the truth about it as they are responsible of receiving and sending documents,” he added.

Tuladhar also said that the ANFA sent the request letter to AFC on December 5 after they came to know about the lapse. “Our President and General Secretary met the AFC officials in Singapore and they were notified about the error. We reacted promptly and sent an email to the AFC but the Competition Division rejected our plea,” Tuladhar added. “The chances of Three Star Club playing in the AFC Cup is very low but we have sent a request letter to AFC President Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa upon his instructions,” he added.