Lion City Sailors' 6-1 loss to Sanfrecce Hiroshima in first leg turns into 3-0 win

From a near-impossible mission of clawing back a five-goal deficit, the Lion City Sailors will now have a three-goal advantage heading into the second-leg, quarter-final match against Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the Asian Champions League (ACL) Two.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) disciplinary and ethics committee confirmed on March 8 the J1 League side had fielded an ineligible player in their 6-1 first-leg win at the Edion Peace Wing Hiroshima stadium on March 5.

In a statement on its website, the Asian football governing body noted that Sanfrecce had fielded Valere Germain "in the match even though he was suspended".

The French forward, who came on as a substitute in the 69th minute and scored their fifth goal five minutes later, was supposed to be serving a three-match ban.

As a result, the match will be forfeited and Singapore Premier League leaders Sailors will be awarded a 3-0 victory instead. The second leg will be played at the Jalan Besar Stadium on March 12.

In addition, the Japanese team have been fined US$1,000 (S$1,330) and will not receive half of their US$160,000 quarter-final participation fee.

The Sailors declined comment and told The Sunday Times that coach Aleksandar Rankovic and skipper Hariss Harun would speak at the pre-match press conference on March 11 instead.

Sanfrecce said in a statement on March 8: "We deeply apologise for the concern and inconvenience caused to everyone by our insufficient investigation into this incident, which resulted in a suspended player being allowed to compete. We will make efforts to prevent a recurrence of such an incident in the future, and will work closely with all parties involved."

Germain joined Sanfrecce from Australia's Macarthur FC on Feb 27, 2024 but had incurred a suspension and a US$1,000 fine after getting involved in a post-match fracas after his former team's 3-2 loss to Central Coast Mariners in the Asean Zonal final of the AFC Cup, the ACL2's predecessor.

On its website, the AFC then deemed that the Frenchman had "slapped a player from the opponent team" and brought the game into disrepute. It was also stated that "the three-match suspensions shall be carried over" in accordance with its disciplinary and ethics code.

With the ruling, the Sailors have revived their chances of advancing to the semi-finals and matching the best performance of any Singaporean side in Asia's second-tier continental cup competition. If they reach the final four, they will pocket another US$240,000.

However, the ruling will also chalk off Shawal Anuar's eighth goal of the tournament, which sets him back in the top scorer race currently led by Shabab Al Ahli's Iranian striker Sardar Azmoun, who has nine strikes.

The Sailors have had a creditable maiden ACL2 season. Before being outclassed by Sanfrecce, Rankovic's side topped Group F ahead of Thailand's Port FC, China's Zhejiang FC and Indonesia's Persib Bandung, before they swept aside Thai team Muangthong United 7-2 on aggregate in the round of 16. They are the only South-east Asian side left in the tournament.