The Asian Football Confederation has confirmed that Công An Hà Nội's 4-0 victory over BG Tampines Rovers in the first leg of their AFC Champions League Two round of 16 first leg has been forfeited after the Vietnamese club fielded two ineligible players.
Tampines have now been awarded a 3-0 victory ahead of Wednesday's second leg at Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore.
The potential transgressions were first reported by ESPN after it was discovered that both Australian midfielder Stefan Mauk and Brazilian striker China should have been serving a one-match suspension -- after picking up their third yellow cards of the group stage in their previous ACL Two game against Tai Po.
Nonetheless, both started last week's game against Tampines -- with China even scoring CAHN's third goal.
In Tuesday's pre-match news conference for the second leg, CAHN coach Alexandré Pölking stressed the club took full responsibility for a mistake of their own -- although he lamented the fact that both players had seemingly been cleared to play in the match commissioner's meeting a day earlier.
This was also referenced by Mauk, who -- on Sunday -- responded on X to a post by saying: "You'd assume the match eligibility report from AFC days before the game saying we can play would be correct."
ESPN understands that both players were named on a list of eligible players for the first leg.
Nonetheless, the AFC also maintains that the onus is on the clubs to ensure they document and monitor the disciplinary records of their own players -- with the release of their findings on Tuesday stating: "The Defendant [CAHN] failed to adhere to its obligations to monitor the suspensions received by its players and ensure that all players fielded during a competition are eligible to play.
In addition to the result being overturned, CAHN have also been fined US$2,000 and penalised 50% of their $80,000 participation fee.
The AFC confirmed that both Mauk and China are deemed to have served their one-match suspension and will be available to feature in the second leg.
Tampines benefitting from CAHN's administrative gaffe is uncannily similar to last season, when fellow Singapore Premier League outfit Lion City Sailors were heavily beaten 6-1 by J1 League giants Sanfrecce Hiroshima -- only to be awarded a 3-0 victory after it was revealed that the latter's Valère Germain should have been serving a suspension incurred during his time at previous club Macarthur FC.
The Sailors would take full advantage of their reprieve to advance from the quarterfinals and make it all the way to the final before losing 2-1 to Sharjah, ultimately still making history by becoming the first Singaporean club to feature in a continental decider.