AFC may face litigation for allowing multi-club ownership

The AFC Champions League includes three PIF-owned Saudi clubs - Al Hilal, Al Nassr and Al Ittihad.

According to a report in The Guardian, a number of prestigious Asian clubs are considering suing the AFC and its President, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa as the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is reportedly facing a potential legal challenge after allegedly breaking its own rules on multi-club ownership to allow three clubs controlled by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) to compete in the AFC Champions League.

Following PIF's revelation in June that it had bought 75% stakes in all three teams (Al Hilal, Al Nassr and Al Ittihad) and Al-Ahli, who were promoted from the Saudi second division last season, Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr and Karim Benzema's Al-Ittihad qualified as well. Asian teams with the same owner are prohibited from competing in the AFC Champions League if they control more than a 30% stake based on revenue, similar to UEFA's rules surrounding its club championships.

What does the AFC's club licence rules say?

According to The Guardian's article, this is not in accordance with the AFC's club licence rules. It is against the law for one team's owners to have "a majority of the shareholders' voting rights of any other club participating in the same competition." Article 16 of the AFC’s statutes says that no one is allowed to "exercise third-party control in any manner whatsoever over more than one club or group whenever the integrity of any match or competition could be jeopardized."

Currently, restrictions only apply where there is a "material risk" that doing so might potentially "jeopardize the integrity of an AFC club competition and/or any match." Participating clubs have the burden of proof to show that they do not pose a danger in this regard.

As per The Guardian's understanding, regardless of the slim chance of them meeting in a competition divided into two regional zones, the process was simple for Manchester City's owners, the City Football Group (CFG), who own all of Melbourne City and 65% of Mumbai City, and both fully satisfy the necessary rules and requirements to compete in this year's competition.

However, while Mumbai and Melbourne are in the West and East zones respectively, all three PIF-owned teams, as well as Al-Fayha, the Saudi Pro-league's fourth representative, are in the West zone, and their paths may intersect in the Round of 16.

Teams from the confederation's eastern zone are reportedly considering filing a legal challenge as one of their options after neither the AFC nor the PIF responded to The Guardian's request for comment regarding their pressure to explain to its members why it disregarded its own rules.

Something fishy going on?

Last week, the European Club Association chairman, Nasser al-Khelaifi told The Guardian that, “it is very, very difficult” to envisage Saudi Arabian clubs being invited to join the European Champions League despite executives from its leading sides being reportedly keen to test the proposition. But it is understood that clubs from other parts of Asia suspect that the Saudis may have used the threat of joining the rival competition as a way of exerting more pressure on the AFC, which is heavily reliant on the region for financial support and sponsorship.

In a letter that the AFC unintentionally forwarded to all member associations last year, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation vowed to give the AFC with significant financial support and sponsorship if the 2023 Asian Cup was awarded to Qatar and Saudi Arabia was handed the 2027 edition.

As per The Guardian's article, a statement from the Korea Football Association later claimed, “unconventional offensive and support of Middle Eastern countries trying to take the lead in Asian football” had influenced the decision to award the 2023 Asian Cup to Qatar in October 2022.

The statement also read that, “In particular, Saudi Arabia, which has expressed its intention to host the Asian Cup in 2027, also made a promise to provide financial support to AFC in order to overcome the financial difficulties caused by the withdrawal of the Asian Cup in China if the Middle East is decided as the host of the 2023 Asian Cup in the name of Asian football development. It is judged that these factors greatly influenced the selection of the venue this time.”

According to The Guardian's sources, Khalifa is “now bending over backwards to keep the Saudis happy”, as last year, they agreed to increase the number of international players allowed to compete in the AFC Champions League from three to five. So, other Asian clubs and member bodies are allegedly concerned about the AFC Champions League's legitimacy.

Saudi Arabia, which is going to host the Club World Cup in December, has lifted the travel restriction ban on its nationals to Iran for the AFC Champions League after seven years of holding neutral destination matches. Its clubs are reported to understand how important it is for Ronaldo and Benzema to participate at the best level feasible in continental and international competitions.