Asian Cup: AFC to meet Qatar FA to decide tournament dates

KUALA LUMPUR - The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Qatar Football Association (QFA) will meet on Feb 6-7 in Doha, Qatar to determine the dates for the 2023 Asian Cup Finals.

AFC secretary-general Datuk Seri Windsor John said the meeting, involving representatives from world governing body FIFA, would also finalise the venues as well as the date for the group stage draw for the 24-team tournament, which will also include Malaysia.

"We don’t have time anymore, we are targeting settling all important matters pertaining to the upcoming Asian Cup at a two-day meeting with the hosts, Qatar, next month. Rest assured, the 2023 Asian Cup will be held in January 2024,” he told Bernama when met after the accreditation ceremony for Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) as the AFC medical centre of excellence, here, today.

Last October, AFC announced that Qatar, which also hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup recently, won the bid to stage the 2023 Asian Cup, replacing China following uncertainty over health measures due to renewed fears over new variants of Covid 19.

China, who were supposed to host the 24-team tournament from June 16-July 16 in 10 cities, withdrew last May citing "exceptional circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic” as their reason.

Defending champions Qatar, who won their maiden title after beating Japan 3-1 in the final of the 2019 edition, have previously staged the Asian Cup in 1988 and 2011.

Meanwhile, Windsor, who welcomed UMMC as their third member of the medical centre of excellence after the National Sports Institute and Kuala Lumpur Sports Medicine Centre, thanked the UMMC for supporting their vision and mission to safeguard as well as promote the health of football players.

"Our partnership represents the beginning of yet another chapter of improving the level of sports medicine in the region and UMMC’s commitment will be crucial to this,” he said.

UMMC director Prof Dr Nazirah Hasnan, meanwhile, believes its expertise and experience in dealing with local football clubs like Selangor FC and Perak FC is more than enough to make this partnership with the AFC a success.

UMMC head of Sports Medicine Department Prof Madya Dr Mohd Nahar Azmi Mohamed is confident that the recognition accorded will help them collect more data pertaining to players’ health issues.- BERNAMA

TAGS: AFC, UMMC, Windsor John, Qatar, Asian Cup