AFC Announcement on future of Phoenix

KUALA LUMPUR: New Zealand�s A-League team Wellington Phoenix will be eligible to participate in the

AFC Champions League, should they qualify, until the end of 2011.

The AFC has confirmed that the Phoenix, the only New Zealand team in the A-League, will be given this dispensation in line with FIFA�s approval even though the club do not fulfil ACL criteria.

However, New Zealand players will be treated as locals while Australians will be considered as foreigners.

The Wellington issue has a major impact on the Football Federation of Australia�s (FFA) eligibility to have its clubs play in the ACL from 2012 onwards.

In a letter to FFA, the AFC said from 2012, if Wellington Phoenix FC participate in the A-League under the same conditions (as they are doing now), FFA would fail to meet the criteria and will lose the right to participate in the ACL 2012.

The decision came during the AFC Professional League Ad Hoc Committee meeting held on October 30, 2009.

Furthermore, the AFC said the FFA can continue to participate in the ACL from 2012 under the following conditions.

• Welling Phoenix FC should be officially registered as a commercial entity in Australia under local law.
• To comply with the provisions of the Regulations, the number of foreign players (non-Australian) in Wellington Phoenix FC should be the same as in other clubs participating in the A-League. In case Wellington Phoenix qualifiy for the ACL, the 3+1 system should be implemented by the club according to the ACL Regulations.
• Otherwise, Welling Phoenix FC should belong to the second division of the A-League, which should be newly created by the FFA.

After 18 matches, Wellington are eighth in the A-League with 21 points, 13 behind leaders Melbourne Victory. The top two teams qualify for the ACL.

 

'In a letter to FFA, the AFC said from 2012, if Wellington Phoenix FC participate in the A-League under the same conditions (as they are doing now), FFA would fail to meet the criteria and will lose the right to participate in the ACL 2012.'

 

If I'm reading it right, the Phoenix would only be allowed four non-Australian players from 2012 onwards....and that includes kiwis.

 

Also, I'm not entirely sure what "officially registered as a commercial entity in Australia under local law" means.  Could the Phoenix still be based in Wellington?

 

I await with interest the response from the club.

 

 

 

 

Interest, and a high degree of trepidation.

 

Whilst, in theory, we can qualify for the ACL for the next couple of years, with Australians counting as imports, we couldn't field a team (would have to be 4 imports and the rest Kiwis).

 

From 2011 we are an Australian team allowed only 4 imports (including Kiwis) so hard to see much of a future role for the Nix in supporting the development of NZ talent - depending on how we are permitted to structure a youth team.

 

I would have thought the requirement to register in Australia would be manageable (?).

 

Over the next couple of years hopefully we could work with the FFA on either increasing the number of imports or allowing for two categories of imports (Kiwis and others - e.g. 2 Kiwis per team and 4 "other" imports per team).

 

Hopefully Terry will reaffirm his long term commitment to the Nix even with the inevitable "Australianisation" of the Nix - it could still play a role supportive of NZ talent, through a youth team, and would still be the Wellington Nix and an embodiment of Absolutely Positively Wellington.

 

i can't get my head round it - let's hope Tony P, and Terry are a little more wily than I'm capable of being at the moment

 

come on Sepp slap that committee around the head!!

 

Yes.  There are currently eight kiwis at the club, so if they were qualify for the ACL they couldn't field a matchday squad.

 

but stuff the ACL - it's the A-league in 2012 that has me worried

Merry Xmas Nix fans from the AFC   (i expect Xmas may not figure highly in their calendar)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Correct.  If they wanted to keep players like Greenacre and Ifill (for example), there would only be spots for two kiwis.

 

 

Unless the number of imports is increased or Kiwis are treated as a separate category of import (no idea if that is feasible) - either way the rules would apply to all clubs.

 

The days of our competitive advantage (Kiwis not counting as imports for only the Nix) are clearly numbered.

i wonder if this is the price we pay for beating Bahrain (though the decision is reported as being between the two legs - i think)

 

basically, i'm angry but also demoralised and feel like we are powerless - short of pointless, immoral random threats of violence

 

really not the kind of news I'm up for at the moment

 

although Harry H - reckons there's plenty of time to sort this out,  it feels to me like we've been well and truly done over by the AFC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

why would FIFA let them screw around with FIFA's approval of our involvement in the A-league (by threatening to expel the aussie clubs) ?

 

surely FIFA will want to put football in the entire Oceania/Asia regions first and give the AFC administrators a f**king message about getting their noses out of FIFA business

 

C'MON FIFA - look after football !!

 

Can't help but think 2 NZ teams beating sides from the gulf (Asia) doesn't have anything to do with this...

 

Will the FFA have our back?  Like hell they will with a World Cup round the corner, that's the big problem.

 

Edit:  the more I think about this the more we need to be going straight to FIFA.  They're the only ones who can look at this from a "for the good of the game perspective".

 

I have major concerns about this, at what point does Terry say enoughs enough?

 

What would be grand though is for us to qualify and then tell them to stick it