Officially, the AFC postpones the World Cup qualifiers to June with the grouping system
The AFC has officially decided today to postpone the Group Seven joint qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup Finals to next June, with the grouping system, after it was scheduled for next March, due to the unstable health conditions in Asia.
This came during the coordination meeting, which was held today through visual communication technology, with the participation of Shane Mangil, Assistant Secretary-General for Football Affairs in the AFC, and representatives of the national federations of Group G, namely the Emirates, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The Secretary General of the Football Association, Muhammad Abdullah bin Hazam, said that the meeting discussed all the details of the group matches, as officials of the AFC reviewed a detailed report on the health situation in each country and the difficulty of holding matches in March due to travel restrictions.
Bin Hazzam added that the UAE Federation adhered to the holding of the two matches in March against Malaysia on the 25th in the Emirates and in front of Indonesia on the 30th of the same month in Indonesia, but the restrictions imposed in these two countries prevented this, as the representative of the Malaysian Federation confirmed that the precautionary measures in his country prevent them from Traveling outside the country during this period, as is the case for Indonesia, which imposes a compulsory quarantine period, indicating that the Union also made another proposal, which is hosting the Indonesian national team, but the imposed measures prevent them from traveling outside the country.
He explained that the AFC decided to officially hold the qualifiers in June with the assembly system, with the door open for submitting hosting requests in accordance with standards, conditions and requirements set by the AFC, including health and regulatory requirements, stressing that the Football Association will apply to host the right of our national team, which was supposed to compete 4 Decisive matches, including 3 at home, with all requirements for the Confederation of matches, training, hotels and transportation facilities provided, as well as a high-quality health protocol, noting that the last date for receiving hosting requests is March 5 and the final announcement is 15 of the same month.
The host association has the right to hold matches over two days instead of one day for each round.
* Suggested dates for holding matches in the pool system:
June 3, 2021
- Thailand vs Indonesia
- UAE vs Malaysia
June 7, 2021
- Vietnam vs Indonesia
- UAE vs Thailand
June 11, 2021
- Indonesia vs UAE
- Malaysia vs Vietnam
June 15, 2021
- Thailand vs Malaysia
- UAE vs Vietnam
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