1972 Asian Champion Club Tournament
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Iran |
| Dates | April 1972 |
| Teams | 7 |
| Venue | Tehran |
← 1971 1985–86 (Asian Club Championship) → | |
The 1972 Asian Champion Club Tournament was to be the fifth edition of the annual Asian club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).[1]
Seven clubs from seven countries were to compete in the tournament, which was to be held in Tehran, Iran in April 1972.
The plans were to have the seven clubs split into two groups, with the group winners and the runners-up to advance to the semi-finals.[2]
However, Hong Kong Rangers were forced to withdraw after the draw due to logistical and financial issues.
Later, Kuwaiti club Al-Qadsia and Lebanese club Racing Beirut both refused to commit to playing against Israeli club Maccabi Netanya for political reasons if the situation arose: the AFC immediately excluded both clubs in response to prevent any repeat of Arab clubs forfeiting matches against Israeli clubs, which had occurred in a semi-final in 1970 and in a group match and the final in 1971.
Consequently, only four teams were left to participate (two in each group), and the Football Federation of Iran informed the AFC that they no longer considered it viable to invest its half of the money and resources required for the tournament - including half of Maccabi, Korea University and Port Authority's flight expenses to and from Tehran - due to the likely heavy financial losses.
On 2 April 1972, the AFC informed the remaining four teams that the tournament was postponed, and it was ultimately cancelled.[3]
Participants
[edit | edit source]The seven clubs originally scheduled to participate were:[4]
| Teams: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Team | Qualifying method | |
 Hong Kong Rangers
|
1970–71 Hong Kong First Division League champions | |
 Persepolis
|
1971–72 Local League champions | |
 Maccabi Netanya
|
1970–71 Liga Leumit champions | |
 Al-Qadsia
|
1970–71 Kuwaiti Premier League champions | |
 Racing Beirut
|
1969–70 Lebanese Premier League champions | |
| Error creating thumbnail: Korea University | 1971 Korean National Football Championship champions | |
| Thailand Port Authority of Thailand | 1972 Kor Royal Cup champions | |
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Teams location
[edit | edit source]
File:Red pog.svg Red: Group A; File:Blue pog.svg Blue: Group B
Groups
[edit | edit source]The draw for the groups had split the seven teams into two groups (one group of three, one group of four) prior to the tournament's cancellation,[4] with the top two from each group to advance to the semi-finals.
Group A
[edit | edit source]| Team |
|---|
| Maccabi Netanya
|
| Hong Kong Rangers (withdrew)
|
| Error creating thumbnail: Korea University |
Group B
[edit | edit source]| Team |
|---|
| Persepolis
|
| Thailand Port Authority of Thailand |
| Al-Qadsia (excluded)
|
| Racing Beirut (excluded)
|
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ דתייה טכנית מעוררת מהשבות Davar, 9 April 1972, Page 9, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
- ^ a b Maccabi Netanya players are about to go to the Asian Championship in Tehran Davar, 2 April 1972, Page 10, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)