DUSHANBE, February 19, Asia-Plus  -- Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Disciplinary Committee has disqualified Tajikistan along with DPR Korea and Iraq from AFC U-16 Championship 2008.

According to the AFC website, the AFC Disciplinary Committee met under the chairmanship of Sheikh Salman Al Khalifa last Friday and disqualified them for fielding overaged players.

The AFC had conducted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tests during the AFC U-16 Championship 2007 Qualification competition and found that DPR Korea, Tajikistan and Iraq were found guilty of infringing Article 72 of the AFC Disciplinary Code.

DPR Korea, Iraq and Tajikistan had their qualifications annulled as per Article 26 of the AFC U-16 Competition Regulations. The AFC Disciplinary Committee further imposed an additional fine of $4000 for fielding an ineligible player as provided for in Article 72 of the Disciplinary Code.

The AFC Disciplinary Committee also found Bhutan, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan and Macau guilty of infringing Article 26 (f) of the regulations and imposed the same penalty. However, these teams failed to qualify for the main competition.

The AFC Disciplinary Committee during its meeting consulted an expert medical witness on the issue of MRI before coming to a decision on all the cases.

AFC will shortly announce the list of finalists for the AFC U-16 Championship, which will be hosted by Uzbekistan from October 4-19, 2008.

According to Article 72 of the AFC Disciplinary Code, if a player takes part in an official match despite being ineligible, his team will be sanctioned by forfeiting the match (cf.art.32) and paying a fine of $4000.

Article 72 of the AFC U-16 Championship Competition Regulations, in particular, says that any member association found guilty of fielding an ineligible player shall forfeit the match. Victory and the resultant three points shall be awarded to the opposing team as well as the score 3-0, or greater, depending on the goals scored in the match but shall have the goals against nullified. The guilty team, its officials and players shall have their medals stripped and if qualification has been made to the AFC U-16 Championship 2008, the qualification shall be annulled. The guilty Member Association, its officials, and team officials shall also be subject to further fines and sanctions as determined by the AFC Disciplinary Committee