Shandong Taishan pull out of Asian Champions League Elite just before game against Ulsan
Chinese Super League side’s sudden withdrawal sees Hong Kong star Shinichi Chan’s Shanghai Shenhua progress to the round of 16
Chinese Super League (CSL) side Shandong Taishan have withdrawn from the AFC Asian Champions League Elite just hours before their game against Ulsan HD.
A statement released by the Asian Football Confederation said Shandong were “considered to have withdrawn” after “the club confirmed it did not intend to report” for the fixture with Ulsan, despite being in South Korea before the game.
A statement by the four-time CSL winners said: “Due to serious physical discomfort of some of the players [and] after evaluation by the medical team, the players were unable to form a team to participate in the AFC Asian Champions League Elite match against Ulsan HD. We deeply regret this and apologise to the Asian Football Confederation, Ulsan HD and the fans.”
After their previous Champions League Elite tie, a 3-1 home win over South Korean side Gwangju FC in Group A, Shandong said it had banned some fans for life after they held up photos of former leader Chun Doo-hwan and current leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un.
Chun is known as the “Butcher of Gwangju” for suppressing an uprising in the city in 1980.
In a statement in response to that incident, Shandong said it was “deeply shocked by the unauthorised behaviour of individual fans in the stands during the match that night”.
