Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
The Chairman of the AFC Disciplinary Committee has today provisionally suspended the player Santos Monteiro Junior Wanderley from Asian football for a period of 60 days pending a full investigation into his nationality status.
The decision is based on the announcement on Wednesday by Indonesian state authorities that the Indonesian passport held by Wanderley (pictured) was a forged or falsified document.
Wanderley, currently registered to Al Nasr (UAE), is Brazilian born but registered in the AFC Champions League 2016 (ACL) as an 'Asian player', pursuant to Article 33.1 of the AFC Champions League 2016 Regulations.
Wanderley represented Al Nasr in the match El Jaish (QAT) vs Al Nasr (UAE) in the ACL on August 24, 2016. According to the regulations (Article 26.4.3), any player participating in the ACL shall be deemed ineligible if the AFC determines that any document submitted during registration is false.
Following the completion of the investigation, the matter will be presented to the AFC Disciplinary Committee for its decision.
The AFC has been investigating the implementation of the so-called 'Asian player' or '3+1' rule and its variations within the AFC Member Associations for some time. The primary purpose for its introduction was to create new playing opportunities for Asian footballers.
The AFC has taken note that a number of players not born in the territory of Asia have been obtaining and utilising the nationality of AFC Member Associations in order to purportedly comply with the rule. In this respect, the AFC has recently asked all AFC Member Associations whether they apply a variation of the '3+1' rule, and if so, a list of those players registered as 'Asian players'.
Furthermore, the AFC has recently written to three players that have participated or are participating in the AFC Champions League 2016 as 'Asian players' and asked for an explanation as to how they obtained their Asian nationality. The AFC is also conducting an investigation into the misappropriation of certain passports that have been utilised recently in AFC national team competitions.
The Asian Football Confederation takes the integrity of its competitions very seriously. In line with its newly-launched Vision and Mission, the AFC has a zero tolerance approach to all forms of corruption.
Photo: Lagardère Sports