At a meeting held between officials and clubs new rules were announced regarding foreign player eligibility for the Hun Sen Cup, the “FA Cup” of Cambodia.
To read about the Hun Sen Cup click here.
The meeting which was held at the Olympia City Hotel in Phnom Penh was attended by representatives from the Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC), Cambodian Premier League (CPL), as well as most league clubs.
What are the new foreigner rules for the Hun Sen Cup?
Clubs will now be able to register 21 players for the duration o the Hun Seen Cup, 6 of whom are to be foreign nationals. On the field 3 foreigners are to be allowed at any one time, as well as 1 players from an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) country – thus creating a 3 + 1 foreigner rule.
Currently it has not been confirmed if clubs will also be allowed to have an additional Association of South East Asian (ASEAN) player on the field, or the 3+1+1 rule, nor whether foreign players will be allowed on the bench.
Previously foreign players were completely barred from competing in the Hun Sen Cup, theoretically at least in order to give young Khmer players more match time. Opponents on the other have stated that it not only did not achieve this goal, but conversely gave young players less match time as clubs instead tended to hoard young players for the cup.
You can read our initial story here.
What will the rules be for the Cambodian Premier League?
Again this has not yet been confirmed, but is expected to largely be the same, particularly with regards to 6 foreign players allowed to be registered, as well as the number allowed on the field.
Whether the CPL go down the route of 3+1, or 3+1+1 (ASEAN), is yet to be confirmed.
Whilst still early days the move has largely been greeted positively by stakeholders within the game, many of whom had been pushing for the change over a number of years. The change coupled with the move of season also puts the cup competition in line with regional neighbors.
The Hun Sen Cup regional qualifiers are due to start tomorrow (28th March).
This article is adapted from BPVE SPORT Cambodia, reported and edited from the great team – Cambodia Sports Review.
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