By Wang Meng Meng

DISAPPOINTED and puzzled. That is the Football Association of Singapore's reaction to Fifa's verdict that China-born Qiu Li is ineligible to play for the Lions.

The 27-year-old striker cannot don the red shirt until he fulfils its new five-year residency requirement in January 2010.

The ruling effectively means Qiu Li, who arrived in Singapore in 2005 to play for the now-defunct S-League side Sinchi FC, is out of next month's Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup.

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