The Qatar Football Association has been fined $2,000 for failing to send a player to a pre-match news conference, Asian Cup organisers said on Thursday. Each team must send the coach and a starting player to the media conference before every match, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), organisers of the 16-team tournament, said.
North Korea and Iraq also failed to send a player to their media conferences but no verdict had been given by the AFC disciplinary committee on their cases. Qatar coach Bruno Metsu could also be punished by the disciplinary committee after he failed to give a one minute interview to the AFC after a match.