KUALA LUMPUR (the-afc.com) -- AFC has disqualified Esteqlal of Tehran from participating in the 2007 edition of the AFC Champions League for failing to fulfill player registration regulations.

Esteqlal failed to submit their Preliminary Player Registration forms by the February 11, 2007 deadline set by AFC. This represents a serious breach of Article 30 (F) (i) which governs the competition. The regulation states, "Each club entering the competition shall send to the AFC Secretariat a squad list of no more than thirty players for the competition by February 11, 2007. Any club that does not submit their registration by the registration deadline shall be automatically disqualified from the competition. In this situation, the team will be deemed to have lost all their matches by a score of 3-0."

AFC has decided to leave the competition format unchanged and Group B will now comprise Pakhtakor (Uzbekistan), Kuwait Sports Club (Kuwait) and Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia).

This decision follows a similar move last year when AFC disqualified Provincial Electricity Authority and Thailand Tobacco Monopoly (both from Thailand) and Arema Malang and Persipura Jayapura (both from Indonesia) for a similar breach of AFC Champions League regulations.