Sept 23 (Reuters) - Defending champions Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia have been kicked out of the AFC Champions League after naming only 11 players for their final group match due to a raft of COVID-19 positives in the squad, the AFC said on Wednesday. Al Hilal’s official lineup had only nine players and two goalkeepers as substitutes after 15 members of the squad tested positive last week. “Al Hilal... failed to name the required 13 players for their AFC Champions League (West) Group B match against Shabab Al Ahli Dubai,” the continental soccer governing body said in a statement. The AFC allows 35 players to be registered for the competition but Al Hilal registered 30, of which only 27 travelled to Doha. The AFC Champions League, Asia’s elite club competition which was suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resumed in the West Asia hub of Doha, Qatar last week and will resume in the East Asia hub of Malaysia on Oct. 16.

Source: Egypt Today September 23, 2020 19:41 UTC