In the evening hours of yesterday, the AFC officially informed that Shanghai Harbour, the runner-up of our top league, decided to withdraw from the 2022 Asian Champions League. Immediately after, the Harbour Club also released a statement, pointing out that due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, the team assembled difficulties, and had no choice but to make the decision to withdraw from the tournament.
In the announcement, the Harbour Club said: "Since the beginning of the year, we have been making exhaustive preparations for our trip to the AFC Champions League. Even with all the challenges and unforeseen factors, we have never given up and have been working hard to coordinate the team until the eve of the team's departure, but in the end we were unable to make the trip. We regret to inform you that the team will be absent from the AFC Champions League this season."
Since joining the AFC Champions League in 2016, Seaport has managed to get out of the group for five consecutive years. As last season's league runners-up, Seaport has long deployed a two-front strategy. According to the original plan, the team should leave for Buriram, Thailand on April 10 to prepare for the game, but the impact of the epidemic has made the players either home quarantine, or home training, and the return arrangement is also far from the date. Against this backdrop, withdrawing from the AFC Champions League has become an unavoidable choice at this special time, and has also deprived young players of valuable high-level training opportunities.
The AFC noted that there are currently three teams remaining in Group J, namely Chiang Rai United of Thailand, Hong Kong Jiezhi of China and Kobe Nakayama of Japan, in the competition. According to the system and the AFC Competition Manual, the results of the matches between the second and fourth ranked teams in Groups F, G, H, I and J will not be taken into account in determining the second-placed teams from the three groups with the best results in the East Asian Region, and the remaining matches in Group J will continue to be played in accordance with the established fixtures.
Despite pulling out of the AFC Champions League, Seaport has not stopped strengthening their squad. Yesterday afternoon, it was announced that Zhang Linpeng, the main defender of the Guangzhou team, will be transferred to Seaport. For Zhang Linpeng, who was born in Shanghai Genbao Football School, joining Seaport can be called a "return to his roots". After playing for Guangzhou for 11 seasons, the 33-year-old Zhang chose to return to his roots in Shanghai.
