Football
AFC Cup 2021: Bengaluru FC players allegedly flouts quarantine rules in Maldives
According to reports in the Maldives local media, some players of Bengaluru FC have allegedly breached the quarantine rules set for the players by the HPA and AFC.
Bengaluru FC players allegedly flouts quarantine rules in Maldives
According to reports in the Maldives local media, some players of the Indian football club Bengaluru FC have allegedly breached the quarantine rules set for the players by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment Minister of Maldives, Ahmed Mahloof, took to his personal Twitter account to assert the same.
"Unacceptable behavior from @bengalurufc breaching the strict guidelines from HPA & @theafcdotcom. The club should leave (Maldives) immediately as we can't entertain this act. We honoured the commitment we gave a few months back even with the surge in cases & pressure from the public," he tweeted.
Mahloof further wrote that the ministry has informed about this breach to the Football Association of Maldives and have asked the association to arrange for the departure of Bengaluru FC to India.
"We have informed FAM that we cannot hold the match, and asked them to make arrangements for @bengalurufc's departure. We will be in further correspondence with AFC through @MaldivesFA to postpone the group stage," he wrote.
Replying on the developments of matter, Parth Jindal, the owner of Bengaluru FC sought apology for his team players' behaviour and said such instance will not be repeated. He took to Twitter and said, "On behalf of @bengalurufc I am extremely sorry for the inexcusable behavior of three of our foreign players/staff while in Male - the strictest action will be taken against these players/staff. We have let @AFCCup down and can only say that this will never happen again."
Bengaluru FC was expected to take on Maldives-based Eagles in an AFC Cup encounter on Tuesday. The future of the match now hangs in balance.
