DUSHANBE, 11.09.2020. (NIAT Khovar) – Yesterday, a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Asian Football Confederation took place, at which several important decisions were made.

The AFC Executive Committee, which met online, acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the AFC’s ability to host competitions this year. Keeping in mind the need to prioritize the well-being of young players, as well as the travel and health challenges, the AFC Under-16 and the AFC Under-19 Championships scheduled for Bahrain and Uzbekistan will be postponed until early 2021.

The AFC Futsal Championship will now be staged in Kuwait but will be moved from the original dates in November to new dates between 2-13 December to allow Member Associations time to prepare themselves for the competition.

In view of the logistics in coordinating the five zones of the AFC Cup and completing the Inter Zone matches, the AFC Executive Committee also agreed that the pandemic created complexities which constituted a force majeure event leading to the cancellation of the 2020 competition.

This means that Istiklol and Khujand, which have already played one match in the 2020 AFC Cup, will not be able to compete for the second most important club tournament in Asia this year.

Matches in the eastern zone of the AFC Champions League 2020 are now scheduled from November 15 to December 13 this year.

The AFC Champions League final will be played in the West Zone on December 19 this year – in a single match rather than in the traditional home and away format.

The AFC Solidarity Cup will now be played in 2024 and the AFC Futsal Club Championship UAE 2020 will be cancelled with the United Arab Emirates hosting the next event in 2021.

Additionally, it was decided that the 30th AFC Congress, which will be held on December 9 in Kuala Lumpur, will now be held online.