Friday, February 03, 2012
Embarrassment For PSSI
Lausanne, 1 February 2012 The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has decided to grant the provisional measures requested by the Indonesian Football Club Persipura Jayapura and to order the reinstatement of the club in the AFC Champions League 2012.
Persipura was supposed to play the 2012 AFC Champions League Playoffs (East-Zone) on 11 February 2012 against Adelaïde United FC (Australia). At the end of November 2011, the Indonesian FA (PSSI) decided to remove Persipura from the AFC Champions League for disciplinary reasons and requested the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to replace the club with Persija Jakarta. The AFC noted the removal of Persipura but did not accept the participation of Persija Jakarta. As a consequence, Adelaïde United FC was exempted from the playoff match and was granted direct access to the group stage of the competition (first match to be played on 6 March 2012).
On the basis of the CAS decision on request for provisional measures, Persipura Jayapura will be entitled to play the playoff match versus Adelaïde United FC. In case of qualification, the status of Persipura would have to be determined by the CAS after examination of the arguments of the parties (i.e. Persipura, PSSI, AFC and Adelaïde United FC) on the merits of this case.
