Sheikh Salman's Remarks on Saudi Hosting Confirmed: Asian Cup May Be Postponed by One Year!

AFC President says a one-year postponement of the Asian Cup is among the options under consideration.

According to "Varzesh Se", Sheikh Salman, the president of the Asian Football Confederation, confirmed the possibility of postponing the Nations Cup due to the security situation in Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday, October 22, Reuters reported that he talked about the possibility of waiting until December 9 to decide on the fate of the tournament on the sidelines of the FIFA Council meeting in Zurich.

According to the schedule, the Asian Nations Cup should be held from January 17 to February 16, 1405 with the participation of 24 teams in eight stadiums in the cities of Riyadh, Jeddah and Al-Khobar. Saudi Arabia is hosting these competitions for the first time.

Sheikh Salman emphasized that "there is no need to rush to make a decision", he said: "We can wait until December 9. "In this area, conditions can get better or worse very quickly and we'll have to see what happens."

He then explained about the option of postponing the tournament: "If we need to make a decision, we will do it, but if we need to, we can postpone the tournament for a year." At the same time, the head of the Asian Football Confederation emphasized that the situation is being monitored and everything is going according to plan. Therefore, the postponement of the matches has not been decided yet.

Concerns about hosting Saudi Arabia have increased after the recent attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Reuters reported that the attack on Saturday, 18 Mehr, left at least 12 dead and more than 300 injured, and the Houthis of Yemen accepted the responsibility. Disruption in flights has also added to the concerns related to the travel of teams and the holding of sports events.

This situation also affected the Asian elite league. The race between Al-Nasr and Naftachi of Uzbekistan started about an hour late on Monday, October 20, after the Saudi Civil Defense issued a security warning. The warning was issued only 15 minutes before the scheduled start time.

In tennis, the organizers of the "Six Kings Slam" exhibition tournament have changed the time of this event from October 29 to November 2 to December 6 to 9. In explaining their decision, they have mentioned the evaluation of the administrative and logistical challenges of holding the tournament.

The latest development is the official postponement of the FIFA eSports World Cup. Reuters reported today, Thursday, October 23, that FIFA and the Saudi Electronic Sports Federation have postponed these competitions, which were supposed to be held in Jeddah from October 24 to November 3. Japan and Brazil had already canceled sending their teams and the new time of the tournament has not been announced yet. The South Korean Football Federation has also announced that it is following the developments in Saudi Arabia in connection with the Asian Football Confederation.

Ambiguity about the Nations Cup has been created in a situation where the future calendar of Asian football is also on the verge of change. Earlier, Reuters reported that the process of choosing the host for the next two editions of the Nations Cup has been stopped due to the review of changes in the international calendar and the possibility of moving the matches to even years. This is a separate file from the current security concerns that could affect the timing of future courses.