This season's revamp of Asian football's club competition -- which led to the birth of the AFC Champions League Elite -- was supposed to usher in a new era of excitement with a tournament structure mirroring a similar overhaul introduced by their European counterparts.
But the new 'league stage' format, which has admittedly brought an element of dynamism to proceedings, has now encountered its first major hiccup.
On Wednesday afternoon, just a couple of hours before they were due to finish their league-stage campaign against Ulsan HD, Chinese Super League outfit Shandong Taishan were deemed to have withdrawn from the tournament.
In a statement released by the Asian Football Confederation, Shandong were "considered to have withdrawn" after "the club confirmed it did not intend to report" for the clash with Ulsan -- despite being in South Korea in the lead-up to the tie.
Neither of the clubs involved nor the AFC have followed up with an official reason behind Shandong's decision not to play Wednesday's tie, which has understandably led to several theories emanating on social media.
One such theory claims locals surrounded the hotel that Shandong were staying in and made a demonstration of a political nature. Another claims the withdrawal is related to Shandong's previous game -- against another South Korean side in Gwangju FC -- where Chinese fans present at the stadium allegedly brandished photos of certain individuals including North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un.
ESPN understands that Shandong have used widespread illness in their camp as an explanation to the AFC. A separate source reveals that the Chinese side had carried out their prematch activities in Ulsan -- Tuesday's news conference and official training -- without any issues or an inkling of the drama that was to follow a day later, suggesting a trigger could have taken place overnight.
The AFC have been consistent in their stance on no-shows. Earlier this season, India's Mohun Bagan SG were also considered to have withdrawn from the second-tier AFC Champions League Two after refusing to travel for an away game in Iran due to security concerns.
Ordinarily, there would have been a simple solution for this.
Any results involving the withdrawing team would be declared null and void. As is still the case in the ACL Two and in the Mohun Bagan example, a four-team group would then be contested by three sides -- each playing four matches -- with the top two still progressing.
Even in scenarios where there would be inter-group rankings, such as a previous iteration of the ACL where the six best-performing of the tean-second place teams in the groups advanced alongside the group winners, there had been a resolution.
With an unequal number of total games played, all results involving the bottom-placed sides would be discarded -- ensuring that the club in the three-team group would still be ranked based on the same number of matches as the rest.
The 'league stage' however is a different beast altogether.
With 12 teams in the standings -- a total of 24 clubs split between East and West Regions -- each club only plays eight games in the stage, meaning there are four competitors they do not directly face off against.
Should all matches involving Shandong be voided, it would still leave three teams -- compatriots Shanghai Port and Shanghai Shenhua, as well as Thailand's Buriram United -- having played eight games while the remaining eight clubs would have only played seven.
Although it would seem unthinkable for that to be considered permissible final standings to decide which teams advance to the round of 16, it does seem that is the route that might be pursued given the voiding of results of a withdrawing clubs is listed in competition regulations.
How else can the AFC solve this conundrum?
It looks to be a work in progress. Certainly not one that has an immediate solution, with further examination required.
In what proved to be a brief statement, the only other notice given apart from Shandong's withdrawal was that "the matter will now be referred to the relevant AFC Committee(s) as appropriate for their decision(s)".
A simple alternate solution, although not fully in accordance to the competition's rules and regulations, would be to consider this evening's match a walkover and award Ulsan a 3-0 win.
It would not affect Ulsan as they have already been eliminated, and neither would it be viewed as a penalty to Shandong given it was their decision not to participate in the game.
Nonetheless, the clubs that were defeated by Shandong -- Central Coast Mariners, Johor Darul Ta'zim and Gwangju -- will have valid reason to argue those losses should also be reversed.
Perhaps every match involving Shandong should see a 3-0 win awarded to their opponents? Then, the three teams that were not picked to face them might cry foul. But could the AFC just put that down to the luck of the draw?
Another option could be to discard each team's result against their respective lowest-ranked opponents from the final standings.
All results against Shandong would be included in this category given they would be bottom by virtue of their withdrawal.
For Port, Shenhua and Buriram, who all played against current bottom side Mariners, those results would be removed from the final standings.
Either way, Shandong's decision not to face Ulsan this evening has undoubtedly thrown the ACL Elite into disarray.
Given the format is being employed for the first time, such teething issues are far from extraordinary but it will be interesting to see the solution that the AFC comes up with -- given it will set the precedence for future editions.
For the rest of the teams -- from those still looking to qualify to the ones who could be affected in terms of their next opponents in the last 16 -- they wait with bated breath.