The Court of Arbitration for Sport Dismisses the Appeal of Al Hilal Saudi Club

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeal filedby Al Hilal football club of Saudi Arabia against the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) AppealCommittee’s decision dated 29 October 2015. Accordingly, the decision of the AFC AppealCommittee is confirmed and Al Ahli Club of the United Arab Emirates remains qualified for the 2015AFC Champions League Final (against Guangzhou Evergrande).

On 30 October 2015, Al Hilal filed a statement of appeal at the CAS against a decision issued by theAppeal Committee of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on 29 October 2015 in which its appealconcerning the eligibility of the player Oussama Assaidi, fielded by its opponent, Al Ahli, in the secondleg of the semi-final of the 2015 AFC Champions League on 20 October 2015, was dismissed.

In its appeal to the CAS, Al Hilal sought to overturn the AFC Appeal Committee decision in order tohave its protest against Al Ahli Club upheld and a sanction of a 3-0 loss to Al Ahli applied to thematch. This would have allowed Al Hilal to qualify for the next round of the 2015 AFC ChampionsLeague, namely, the 2015 AFC Champions League Final.

With the agreement of the parties an expedited procedure was conducted. The Sole Arbitrator(Dr Marco Balmelli of Basel, Switzerland) held a hearing with the parties by telephone conference thismorning and the parties were informed of his decision this afternoon. The full Arbitral Award with thegrounds for the decision will be notified at a later date.

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