The Al Ula team, coached by José Peseiro, was unable to celebrate going directly to the Saudi League after a confusion in the secretariat, despite having won the points necessary for promotion on the field.
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The club finished the regular phase of the second division in 4th place and, therefore, will have to compete in a knockout stage with three other teams – the first two placed will go straight up the division. This is because an administrative case cost Al Ula three crucial points – which, if they had, would have been enough to finish in 2nd place, with one point more than Al Faisaly.
It all started when Matija Nastasic, a defender who stood out at Schalke, received a yellow card in a game against Al Raed; however, the referee of that first match, Ibrahim Al-Juraish, did not record this card in his report. Later, Nastasic received another yellow card against Al Zulfi, which, by accumulation, suspended him from the next meeting, with Al Wehda. However, as the card seen against Al Raed was not registered, the defender was used in that match against Al Wehda, in which he even scored in the 3-0 victory.
However, Al Wehda later protested the use of Nastasic in that game, claiming that he should be suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards. The league’s Disciplinary Committee agreed and punished Al Ula with a 0-3 administrative defeat.
But the situation became more unusual when the Disciplinary Committee also confirmed the error of the referee, Ibrahim Al-Juraish, for not registering the yellow card for Nastasic. As punishment, the judge was suspended until the end of the season, but the defeat at the secretariat against Al Ula was also maintained.
Thus, this confusion in the secretariat ended up relegating Al Ula to 4th place in the competition: they now have to pass a semi-final (with Al Orobah, next Monday) and a final to be able to move up to the Saudi League, a promotion format similar to that implemented in the Championship, in England.
Read more in football news. and related tags: Al Ula, Al Faisaly.