KUALA LUMPUR: The Asian Football Confederation published two important decisions this afternoon.
Due to the uncertainty and risks in view of the current pandemic, COVID-19, the AFC has released a series of decisions regarding future tournaments involving national teams and clubs from across the biggest continent.
AFC U16 Championship (Bahrain 2020) and AFC U19 (Uzbekistan 2020)
In line with FIFA’s decision to cancel the FIFA U-17 and U-20 World Cups in 2021 and taking into consideration the safety and health of Asia’s youth players, the AFC has reluctantly decided to cancel the AFC U-16 Championship Bahrain 2020 and the AFC U-19 Championship Uzbekistan 2020.
The next editions of both competitions will be allocated to the same hosts in 2023 when the Uzbekistan Football Association will host the AFC U20 Asian Cup and Bahrain Football Association will stage the AFC U17 Asian Cup.
The AFC has also decided to cancel the AFC Futsal Championship Kuwait 2020 and the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup Thailand 2021. Both the Kuwait Football Association and the Football Association of Thailand will host the next editions. Kuwait will stage the AFC Futsal Asian Cup 2022 and Thailand, the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup 2023.
Dato’ Windsor John, the AFC General Secretary, said: “We are grateful for the support of the hosts for these competitions who agreed with the AFC the need to safeguard the interests of all stakeholders during this time of uncertainty and taking into consideration the risks of the current pandemic.”
The AFC has also decided to reschedule the qualifying rounds for the AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup 2022 and AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup 2022.
The new schedule is:
Source: The AFC
AFC Champions League and AFC Cup
The biggest-ever AFC Champions League and the expanded AFC Cup will be played in centralised group stages in the 2021 season. The AFC Champions League will be held in the West and East Regions while the AFC Cup will be staged across the five AFC Zones.
With the continued support of the Member Associations and participating clubs, the AFC has agreed that the AFC Champions League Group Stage West Region matches will be scheduled between April 14-30 while the East Region are planned for April 21-May 7, 2021.
Similarly, the centralised AFC Cup Group Stage will kick off in the South, Central and East Zones on May 14 before the West Zone commences on May 23, with the ASEAN Zone scheduled to take place from June 22-28. Each team in this year’s AFC Cup Group Stage will compete in a single match round-robin format.
The AFC Champions League 2021 knockout matches in the Round of 16 are scheduled for September 13-15 and the Quarter-finals on September 27-29. Both rounds will be played as single matches. The AFC Champions League Semi-finals will be over two legs on October 19-20 and 26-27.
Meanwhile, the AFC Cup 2021 West Zonal Semi-finals will be held on September 13 - 14 with the second-leg scheduled to take place two weeks later. The ASEAN Zonal Semi-finals will take place on Aug 10 - 11 over a single leg.
The two-legged Zonal final involving South, Central and East clubs is scheduled for August 11 and 25, with the ASEAN single-leg Zonal final planned for August 25, before the two-legged West Zonal Final takes place on Oct 20 and Nov 3.
The two-legged Inter-zonal Semi-Finals is scheduled for Sept 14-15 and 28-29 with the Inter-zonal Final to be staged on Oct 20 and November 3.
The AFC Champions League, which will feature 40 teams for the first time in history, will reach its grand finale with the two-leg Final on November 21 and 27, while the AFC Cup Final will take place on November 26.
Bidding invitations and other hosting details will be circulated to Participating Member Associations after the AFC Cup and AFC Champions League 2021 Group Stage draws which will take place on January 27, 2021.
The AFC Cup 2021 Group Stage Draw will take place at 2:30 pm (+8GMT) followed by the AFC Champions League 2021 Group Stage Draw at 4:30 pm.
The full schedules for the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup 2021 are as follows:
