•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

Persipura Jayapura will play in the Asian Champions League after all after the Asian Football Confederation decided to comply with the Court Arbitration for Sport’s provisional decision.

Asian football’s governing body decided on Friday to allow the Black Pearls into a one-match ACL playoff. Persipura, the defending Indonesian Super League champion, will face Adelaide United at the A-League club’s Hindmarsh Stadium on Thursday.

In a letter dated on Friday and addressed to Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) secretary general Tri Goestoro and Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley, the AFC competition committee laid out the specifics for the playoff.

The winner of the playoff will go into Group E with Uzbekistan champion Bunyodkor, J-League third-place finisher Gamba Osaka and the winner of a playoff between Chonburi FC of Thailand and South Korea’s Pohang Steelers.

Even if Persipura wins the playoff, it is not completely in the clear. The AFC said in its letter that it would wait for the final ruling from the CAS, which is expected before March 6, before determining whether the Papuan club would play in the group stage or not.

“[If Persipura is] later found disqualified due to CAS’s final award and decision [which may be contradictory to the provisional decision], Adelaide United may replace Persipura Jayapura to participate in the ACL preliminary group stage,” the AFC said.

It also ruled that the loser of the Persipura-Adelaide playoff would not drop into the AFC Cup group stage “in order to maintain the match fixtures and integrity” of the competition.

Persipura celebrated the news, which broke late on Friday, and club secretary general Thamrin Sagala said the Black Pearls were ready to play.

“The team has been in Jakarta since [Thursday] and we’ve already booked tickets to fly to Adelaide on Monday,” Thamrin said.

The Black Pearls won the 2010-11 ISL, which normally would have brought with it a place in Asia’s top club competition.

However, the PSSI chose not to register the club for the ACL — despite initial claims that it only did so at the AFC’s behest — because it stayed in the now-breakaway ISL instead of joining the officially sanctioned Indonesian Premier League.

Persipura appealed to the CAS, which reinstated the club with a provisional decision on Feb. 1.