CAS website - Lausanne, 19 March 2007 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld today the request for provisional measures filed by the Iranian Club Esteghlal Tehran FC for its reinstatement in the Asian Champions League 2007. A first request filed by Esteghlal was dismissed by the CAS on 7 March 2007.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) had disqualified Esteghlal from participating in the 2007 edition of the AFC Champions League for failing to fulfil player registration regulations. By decision of 16 February 2007, the AFC considered that Esteghlal failed to submit their preliminary player registration forms by the relevant deadline and decided to disqualify the Iranian club from the competition.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has upheld the request for interim measures on the basis of the evidence submitted by the Iran Club establishing that the registration forms were actually sent per mail within the time limit fixed by the AFC regulations. Although the AFC considers that such forms have not been received on time, the CAS has decided to grant Esteghlal’s request in order to avoid the risk of an irreparable harm if the Club is prevented to play the next matches of the AFC Champions League. The question of the interpretation of the AFC regulations will be examined further by the CAS. In the meantime, Esteghlal Tehran FC will be allowed to take part in the next matches of the AFC Champions League, at least until the final CAS decision. The CAS will also have to decide whether the Club will be allowed to play the matches it has been prevented from playing in this competition so far.