KUALA LUMPUR (the-afc.com) -- The AFC Executive Committee has dismissed the reinstatement appeal of Esteqlal of Tehran who were disqualified from participating in the 2007 edition of the AFC Champions League two weeks ago.

Esteqlal put in an appeal on Feb. 19 but the AFC Executive Committee turned it down yesterday after a thorough review.

The Iran Pro League defending champions were expelled from the AFC Champions League on Feb. 16 for failing to submit their preliminary player registration forms by the Feb. 11, 2007 deadline. AFC disqualified the club after invoking Article 30 (F) (i) of the competition regulations which states: "Each club entering the competition shall send to the AFC Secretariat a squad list of no more than thirty (30) players for the competition by Feb. 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."

The dismissal of Esteqlal’s appeal means there will be only three teams – Pakhtakor (Uzbekistan), Kuwait Sports Club (Kuwait), and Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia) – in Group B while Sepahan, who have been drawn in Group D with Al Ain (UAE), Al Ittihad (Syria) and Al Shabab (Saudi Arabia), carry Iran’s hopes in the continental showpiece as the sole representative.