By Andrew Warshaw
November 1 – One of the darkest days in the history of Asian club football resulted in mass suspensions being announced today by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The AFC banned Suwon Samsung Bluewings assistant coach Ko Jong-Su and forward Stevica Ristić for six matches each after they were involved in a mass brawl during the South Korean club’s Asian Champions League semi-final loss to Qatar’s Al Sadd.
Al Sadd goalkeeping coach Suhail Saber Ali was also suspended for six matches following the ugly scenes that halted play for more than 10 minutes of the first leg on October 19, in a game the Qataris went on to win 2-0.
Al Sadd, the first Qatari side to reach the Asian equivalent of Europe’s Champions League, lost the subsequent home leg 1-0 but advanced on a 2-1 aggregate to meet Jeonbuk Motors, another Korean side, in the final on Saturday (November 5).
The disgraceful scenes that marred the semi-final, one of the showpiece occasions of Asian football, were some of the worst ever with players seen kicking at each other as numerous fights broke out.
To make matters worse, a Suwon fan ran onto the pitch to berate the Al Sadd team, sparking off another violent melee.
The trouble was prompted by Al Sadd’s controversial second goal nine minutes from time.
Moments before, Suwon had allowed the ball to go out of play to let one of their players get treatment for a head injury in the Qatari area.
Al Sadd restarted and broke quickly to score as Suwon players, whose entire defence was out of position, walked slowly back believing their teammate was still being treated.
Three players were sent off and missed the return leg in Doha.
Two of them, Al Sadd’s Keita Abdul Kader and Mamadou Hamdou Niang, are eligible for Saturday’s final having served their suspensions in the second leg of the semi.
The mass brawl rounded off a terrible day for the image of Asian football, with security now likely to be unusually stringent for Saturday’s Asian Champions League final in Jeonju.
A few hours earlier, former Sangju Sangmu Phoenix coach Lee Soo-Chul (pictured) was found hanging in his apartment south of Seoul, weeks after being sentenced in relation to a match fixing scandal that has rocked South Korea’s K-League.
In July, prosecutors charged 57 people – 46 current and former players, and 11 criminal gang members and gambling brokers – for fixing 15 matches last year.
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