The Indonesian teams were a notable omission when the Asian Football Confederation announced its list of entries on Wednesday for the 2008 edition of the continent's premier club competition.

The two Indonesian slots were awarded instead to Thai Premier League runners-up Krung Thai Bank and Vietnam National Cup holders Nam Dinh.

Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) general secretary Nugraha Besoes confirmed the omission of the Indonesian clubs from the continental competition.

"When we were originally asked by the AFC whether we wanted to enter our teams in the AFC Champions League, we responded favourably but unfortunately, we have been unable to conclude our domestic competitions in time," Nugraha told PA Sport.

"Our domestic competitions will only be finished in January so we will not be able to provide the AFC with the names of Indonesia's two representatives for the tournament in time for the group stage draw on December 17.

"We proposed to AFC that our teams be included in the draw as Indonesia 1 and Indonesia 2 but the idea was not accepted."

The 2007 Indonesian league season kicked off in early February but was halted from May to August due to the country's co-hosting of the AFC Asian Cup.

Another month-long stoppage followed in September due to Ramadan and the national team's preparations for its World Cup 2010 qualifier against Syria in mid-October.

"Because of Asian Cup, we had to stop our competitions for three months," Nugraha added.

"Then after that, we had to stop the games again because the World Cup qualifiers, which were originally scheduled for early 2008 were suddenly moved to October.

"We are not like the national teams in Europe and we need time to call up our national players and assemble them for training at our national team centre to prepare for these big games."

While the PSSI official viewed the exclusion of the Indonesian teams from the AFC Champions League as an unfortunate measure, he stressed that the association was not being sanctioned by the AFC.

"This is not a punishment because our clubs are only being excluded from next year's tournament," he said.

"We have sent a representative to meet with the AFC competitions committee and discuss the matter to ensure that it does not happen again in future."

A total of 28 teams from 14 countries will go into next week's draw for the group stage.

The teams will be divided into seven groups of four for the first phase of the competition, which will take place from March to May 2008, with the group winners joining defending champions Urawa Reds from Japan in the quarter-finals next September.

In addition to Thailand and Vietnam, the tournament will also feature clubs from Australia, China, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Korea Republic, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.

The AFC clarified its position in a statement released later on Wednesday, which confirmed the exclusion of the Indonesian teams.

According to the statement, qualification for next year's AFC Champions League is based on the results of league and knockout competition concluded in 2007.

"The AFC Competitions Committee has confirmed that Indonesian clubs shall not be included in the AFC Champions League 2008 as both the Indonesia League and National Knockout competition do not finish before January 2008," the statement read.

"This is in breach of the AFC Champions League Regulation on 'Eligible Teams' which states that 'the national team champion and champion club of the knockout competition for the football season declared by the Member Association and approved by the AFC Competitions Committee, and concluded in the year preceding the current competition, shall be eligible to participate in this competition.'"