The decision was issued by Asia’s football governing body in the context of the pandemic continuing to see complicated developments in many countries, thus posing challenges in finding a suitable host to stage the centralised matches.
The cancellation of ASEAN Zone clashes will allow Vietnam’s AFC Cup representatives – Hanoi FC and Saigon FC – to focus on their own goals in the national top-tier league, LS V.League 1-2021.
The AFC also decided to continue organising matches across the remaining Zones in an effort to maintain the overall structure of the competition, giving due consideration to the existing format as well as the availability of centralised hosts in each Zone.
Accordingly, single-leg ties in the AFC Cup Knockout Stage for the Central, West and Inter Zones will go ahead as planned, beginning with the Central Zonal Final between Uzbekistan’s FC Nasaf and FC Ahal from Turkmenistan, scheduled to take place on August 25, 2021, at the Markaziy Stadium in Karshi, Uzbekistan.
Similarly, the single-leg semifinal matches in the West Zone – Muharraq Club of Bahrain vs title holders Al Ahed FC of Lebanon and Kuwait SC vs Al Salt of Jordan – will be held on September 20 and 21, 2021, with efforts currently ongoing to finalise the centralised host for the AFC Cup South Zone matches.
According to the AFC announcement, due to the impact of the pandemic, the AFC Cup Knockout Stage draw, originally scheduled for July 7, 2021, has been tentatively postponed until August 4, 2021.
