Home United not playing in the AFC Cup

Home United will not be playing in the AFC Cup after AFC released the names of the teams to play in the competition.

Tampines Rovers will be only team to represent Singapore in Asia next year.

Home United club general manager S. Mahalingam thus expressed surprise at being denied the opportunity to maintain that position in an interview with S-league website.

“This is news to me, it is the first time I’m hearing it,” he said.

“But definitely, if it is true, we definitely will be disappointed. Myself, my head coach (Lee Lim Saeng) – in fact all of us were looking forward to our participation in the competition.

“I don’t know why we are not able to take part, but I’m sure the FAS will officially notify us in the next few days. Anyway, we have to get over it and continue with next year, where we will try to qualify for the following year’s AFC Cup.”

Tampines team manager Syed Faruk was meanwhile relieved to be told his club would be returning to the AFC Cup after a three-year absence, having reached the quarterfinals for three consecutive seasons between 2005 and 2007.

The Stags were one of four clubs to receive invitations to participate in the AFC Cup despite garnering no silverware, the other three to receive the honour being Liga Indonesia side Persipura Jayapura, Iraqi outfit Arbil and Nasaf Qarshi of Uzbekistan.

“It’s good to be back, although it is now a tougher competition,” said the 43-year-old.

“If you want to enter this competition, you can’t pick and choose who you want. All we can do is hope for a good draw for the group stage, and if we progress into the Round of 16, we’ll see from there.

“As for Home not being invited, the AFC are the ones who have done the awarding of places. What can we do? There is nothing much we can think about there.”

AFC Cup 2011 teams

WEST

BAHRAIN
1 AL AHLI

IRAQ
2 DUHOK
3 AL TALABA
4 ARBIL

JORDAN 
5 AL FAISALY
6 AL WEHDAT

KUWAIT 
7 AL QADSIA
8 KUWAIT SC
9 AL NASR

LEBANON  
10 AL AHED
11 AL ANSAR

OMAN 
12 AL SUWAIQ
13 FNJAA OR ALORUBA

SYRIA 
 14 AL JAISH
15 AL KARAMAH

UZBEKISTAN 
16 NASAF QARSHI

YEMEN
17 AL SAQR
18 AL TILAL

EAST

HONG KONG
19 SOUTH CHINA
20 TSW PEGASUS

INDIA
21 KINGFISHER EAST BENGAL

INDONESIA  
22 PERSIPURA JAYAPURA

MALDIVES
23 V.B.
24 VICTORY

SINGAPORE  
25 TAMPINES ROVERS

THAILAND
26 TBC

VIETNAM
27 HANOI T&T
28 SONG LAM NGHE AN