The confirmation of an eight-match ban for newly crowned AFC Player of the Year Nasser Al-Shamrani was overshadowed by sanctions for high-profile managers Marcello Lippi and Tony Popovic.
The Asian ruling body announced the decisions of its AFC disciplinary committee on Saturday which ruled on 39 different cases during the season.
Former World Cup-winning Italy coach Lippi was given a three-match ban from future AFC club competitions and fined five thousand US dollars for confronting the referee in Guangzhou Evergrande's ill-tempered AFC Champions League quarterfinal at Western Sydney Wanderers in August. Lippi has since stepped down from coaching to take up a director of football role with the Chinese Super League champions.
Lippi had already served a one-match ban in the second leg of the quarterfinal against Western Sydney Wanderers as the reigning ACL champions were eliminated from the regional competition.
Guangzhou assistant manager Massimiliano Maddaloni and the club's physiotherapist Silvano Cotti were banned for two games and fined two thousand US dollars each for their actions from the same match.
Western Sydney boss Popovic, who was named AFC Coach of the Year last Sunday, was found guilty of offensive behavior in the quarterfinal. He was banned from two games in AFC competitions and fined two thousand US dollars.
As for Al-Shamrani, the news of his eight-match ban -- the minimum for spitting and head-butting -- had been leaked to the Arab media by an AFC disciplinary member last weekend, just hours before the Al Hilal striker was honoured at the AFC Annual Awards in Manila.
Al-Shamrani confronted Western Sydney Wanderers defender Matthew Spiranovic in the second leg of the ACL final on Nov. 1 after Al Hilal suffered a shock 1-0 defeat over two legs to the unfancied A-League outfit who became the first Australian club to win the title. Al-Shamrani's suspension applies only to AFC club competitions -- hence the striker will be free to take his place in the Saudi Arabian squad for next month's AFC Asian Cup in Australia.