What happened to Evergrande fans in Hong Kong AFC Champions League?

In the fifth round of the AFC Champions League in 217, when Guangzhou Evergrande challenged the Hong Kong Oriental team away, Evergrande fans pulled out banners involving political slogans and the fans of the two teams swore at each other, which caused a heated discussion. Hong Kong Oriental Club also appealed to the AFC after the game, hoping to investigate the matter and punish Evergrande. On May 4, 217, the AFC officially announced the penalty decision, which imposed a "two-year extension for two empty games" on Evergrande Club and imposed a heavy fine of $22,5.

In the AFC Champions League match with Hong Kong Oriental Team away from home, Evergrande fans held up a banner in the stands, which was full of political significance. After the match, the spokesmen of the Hong Kong Oriental Club and the Hong Kong Football Association said that they would appeal to the AFC and wait for the AFC's ruling.

Subsequently, AFC launched an investigation into this matter and asked Evergrande Club to give a reasonable explanation. Otherwise, Evergrande will be punished with at least two empty games and a high fine in accordance with AFC AFC AFC Champions League rules. After receiving the news from AFC, Evergrande actively complained. On the one hand, it provided live video, pictures and other evidence of the match that day, proving that the incident was only the personal behavior of individual fans. At the same time, Evergrande Club also stressed that not all fans in the visiting team area are Guangzhou fans, including Hong Kong fans and foreign fans.

On April 28th, 2 fans' clubs in Guangzhou issued a statement explaining the banner incident. They said that after investigation, four people in the visiting team's fan area held up a banner suspected of being politically inclined. Further verification shows that these four people are not registered members of the fan club. For their true identity, and how to carry such an obvious banner can pass the strict security inspection of Mong Kok Stadium, fans will have no idea about it.

Although Evergrande Club and Evergrande Fans' Association gave their own explanations for the banner incident, AFC made a decision on punishment after investigation. The AFC imposed a "two-year extension of execution for two empty games" on Evergrande Club and imposed a heavy fine of $22,5. "The execution of two empty games will be postponed for two years" means that if similar events happen again in Evergrande in these two years, the AFC will have zero tolerance and immediately impose heavy penalties on Evergrande Club for at least two empty games. If similar incidents are not committed again within two years, then this incident will not be investigated and will not be empty.

Neither Evergrande Club nor Guangzhou fans can accept the penalty of two empty games. Therefore, if fans want to avoid the penalty of empty games, they must regulate their behavior when cheering for Evergrande in the next two years, otherwise, Evergrande Club and Guangzhou fans will suffer the most.