January 29 – The AFC’s executive committee has restated its decision that Champions League match-ups between Qatari, Saudi and UAE clubs will be played on a home and away basis despite an ongoing political and economic blockade of Qatar by its neighbours.
Consideration of whether the home and away format should be dropped for these countries was dismissed in favour of following the competition rules of home and away ties back in November 2017.
The AFC tasked a delegation led by AFC Senior Vice President Praful Patel, accompanied by AFC Executive Committee members Mariano Araneta Junior and Dr Tran Quoc Tuan, to visit Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE in early January to explain the decision as well as to speak to local stakeholders about the issues and learn more of the practical challenges ahead.
At the same time, a specialist international risk agency has provided an assessment of the security within the countries involved and whether home and away games are safe to play. If the conclusion had been that danger existed then neutral venues would have been considered for the game in question.
The decision follows the successful hosting of the Gulf Cup in Kuwait in December/January with all the nations present. While the Gulf Cup is not an AFC competition, it nevertheless gave the opportunity for the nations to compete in the same competition.
Originally scheduled to be hosted in Qatar, the event was moved at the last minute to Kuwait once that country’s suspension from international football was lifted by FIFA. Qatar was drawn in a different group to the UAE and Saudi Arabia who have boycotted the competition if it had been hosted in Qatar. Qatar and Saudi Arabia (who have qualified for the World Cup later this year) failed to make it out the group stage. The UAE eventually lost in the final on penalties to Oman. The real winner was football in the region.
The AFC Champions League qualifying rounds continue for the West Region – where the Gulf country qualifiers are bracketed – with the final play-offs for the last four group slots on Tuesday January 30.
The West Region has 12 teams pre-qualified with four more to qualify from the final qualifying matches where both Qatar and the UAE have teams. Three teams from Qatar and the UAE are already pre-qualified to the AFC Champions League group stages, as well as two from Saudi Arabia.
While the draw so far has meant no teams from the three countries play against each other in the preliminary and play-off stages, that changes in Group stage with the three Qatari teams already qualified all facing UAE or Saudi opposition.
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