Football

AFC yet to decide on U-16 and U-19 tournaments

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will decide on Monday whether to call off or organise this year's AFC Under-16 and Under-19 Championships.

AFC general-secretary Datuk Windsor Paul said: "AFC's competitions committee will decide by Monday on the status of both competitions."

Fifa, meanwhile, have cancelled both the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Both AFC competitions were supposed to serve as qualifiers for the World Cups.

National Under-19 coach Brad Maloney is waiting patiently for AFC's decision.

The AFC Under-16 Championship is scheduled in Bahrain on March 31- April 17 while Uzbekistan will host the Under-19 competition on March 3-20.

"We have not received anything official from the AFC," said Maloney, who is supposed to gather his trainees for centralised training later this month.

Meanwhile, reigning Super League champions Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) are awaiting AFC's decision over their participation in this year's AFC Champions League (ACL).

The AFC will finalise details later this month.

JDT's ACL participation is in limbo after they had withdrawn from last year's edition due to travel restrictions.

According to regulations, a team who withdraw during the group stage of an AFC tournament face a US$50,000 (RM207,000) fine and a two-year ban from applying for an AFC club licence.

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