K League 1 professional football club Gangwon FC has initiated official protest procedures against the Middle Eastern officiating crew whose misinterpretation of rules effectively dashed the team's chances of advancing to the main tournament of the AFC Champions League Elite (ACLE).

Gangwon is understood to have concluded that it was unable to properly utilize its substitution cards during the ACLE preliminary match.

The incident occurred during the first half of extra time in the 2026-2027 ACLE preliminary match between Gangwon and Gamba Osaka (Japan) held yesterday (August 11) at Gangneung Stadium.

Gangwon manager Jung Kyung-ho, after playing through a tight 0-0 deadlock for 90 minutes, attempted to substitute two players simultaneously before the start of extra time.

Previously, Gangwon had used three substitution opportunities during regular time to replace three players, and entering extra time granted both teams one additional substitution opportunity.

While teams can change up to five players across the 90 minutes of the first and second halves, Gangwon had only used three players, leaving them with two remaining regular substitutions plus one new substitution card for extra time, totaling three player changes they could make in extra time.

However, according to the Gangwon club and the Korea Professional Football League, the fourth official rejected Gangwon's request for a "two-player substitution" based on a misinterpretation that only one player could be substituted per opportunity during extra time.

Even after the fourth official communicated with the referee, Gangwon's substitutions could not be made.

At the time, the fourth official reportedly asked the club officials to get confirmation of the rules from the referee assessor and match commissioner, but the referee assessor reportedly refused to cooperate on the grounds that he was busy watching the match.

The erroneous rule interpretation, combined with communication issues among AFC officials, led to a chaotic situation.

Gangwon's substitutions were finally made in the 15th minute of the first half of extra time.

However, by then they had already conceded a goal, and the momentum of the match had shifted.

Gangwon conceded a goal to Gaku Nawata in the 13th minute of extra time and ultimately lost 0-1.

Looking closely at the conceding sequence deepens Gangwon's sense of regret.

Nawata scored the winning goal with a left-footed shot as he rushed toward the left side of the goal to meet a cross sent by Ryoya Yamashita.

Right-back Kang Jun-hyuk, who was the target for substitution but remained on the pitch to play, failed to properly block Nawata.

Had Gangwon's substitutions been made normally at the start of extra time, Kim Do-hyun would likely have been playing right-back instead of Kang Jun-hyuk, who was exhausted from playing over 90 minutes.

The substitution cards that were not used in time had a decisive impact on the match.

As a result of this defeat, Gangwon missed out on competing in the ACLE, the premier stage of Asian club competitions.

They dropped down to the second-tier AFC Champions League Two (ACL2).

Even if Gangwon's protest is accepted, the possibility of the match result changing appears to be very low.

The referee and assistant referees for this match are from Qatar, the fourth official is from Jordan, the referee assessor is from Uzbekistan, and the match commissioner is from China.

Separate from Gangwon's protest procedures, a K League official serving as the local general coordinator for the match also reported the objective factual circumstances to the AFC.

(Photo: Provided by Korea Professional Football League, Yonhap News)