Dubai: The AFC Executive Committee announced new updates to the 2020 festival calendar after Al Wahda of the UAE was the victim of last-minute COVID-19 of the West Zone qualifying rounds of the AFC Champions League on Thursday.
“Al Wahda has informed the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that he cannot travel to Qatar to play in the AFC Champions League (West), where he has lately held a position at the time in Group A, after several club members tested positive for COVID-19,” said an article in the Asian Football Confederation.
“The AFC has written to the United Arab Emirates Football Association (UAE FA) informing them that the UAE FA and the club’s request to postpone the organization’s matches will be accepted due to complex arrangements in which many organizations have already traveled. to Qatar for the competition.
The AFC had to hold two separate competitions in centralized locations to avoid the effects of the ongoing pandemic. As a result, Doha and Kuala Lumpur were selected to host the rest of the organization’s parties for the West and East regions, respectively.
With Al Wahda not being able to reach Doha, the number of groups in the United Arab Emirates is now reduced to 3 (Al Ain, Sharjah and Shabab Al Ahli Dubai) in Groups D, C and B, respectively.
In accordance with the rules of procedure and competition, Al Wahda will have to give up its matches and “the matter will now be referred to the AFC commissions competent for a resolution as applicable”.
The football season of the United Arab Emirates, which was due to begin last Thursday (September 3) with the first circular matches of the Arabian Gulf Cup, had been postponed just 24 hours before the start, for at least a month.
In the action of the AFC Champions League, Al Wahda was considered one of the most productive groups in Group A, as he was tied for first place with Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia with 4 equal problems. And while Shabab Al Ahli and Al Ain have not yet scored their first numbers respectively in Groups B and D, Sharjah’s league champions have only one point and remain in the back of Group C chasing Al Taawoun of Saudi Arabia (6 issues), Al Duhail of Qatar (3 issues) and Al Duhail (3 issues) and Iran Persépolis (1).
Meanwhile, matches in the East Zone of the AFC Champions League, which were scheduled to resume in mid-October, have now been postponed between 15 November and 13 December, the AFC reported following its committee meeting.
The 2020 AFC Champions League final to be played in the West side on December 19 will be a unique match, which in the classic home and away format.
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