KUALA LUMPUR: The Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) executive committee has confirmed that knockout ties for the AFC Champions League 2021 and AFC Cup 2021 will, from the quarter-finals onwards, be played in centralized venues and changed from their current home and away format to single-leg matches.
The 2022 club competitions will also apply the same formats, the AFC official website reported.
Taking into consideration the existing uncertainties related to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic as well as ongoing travel restrictions throughout the continent, the committee approved the AFC competitions committee’s recommendations to minimize travel for participating clubs to ensure the safety and wellbeing of players and officials.
The executive committee also approved a proposal for the AFC Champions League quarter-finals and semi-finals to be played in one centralized venue for the east and west regions respectively and agreed to open the bidding process for the AFC Champions League 2021 single-leg final – which has been rescheduled to be held on Nov. 23 (from the two-legged final on Nov. 21 and 27) – to the participating member associations from the west region.
At the same time, it was agreed that the competition will continue with the remaining matches and groups as much as possible, while games across all stages that could not be played due to COVID-19-related matters would be cancelled and treated as a force majeure.
In addition, the executive committee approved the new club competitions calendar for the 2022 AFC Champions League and AFC Cup seasons.
Taking into consideration the ongoing risks and uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and to ensure participating clubs were given sufficient preparation time, it was decided that the 2022 season would draw on the successful and safe staging of the 2020 club competition season as well as the ongoing 2021 edition.
Therefore, the 2022 AFC Champions League and AFC Cup seasons will continue to be played in centralized venues, with the knockout stages also following the single-leg format of the current edition of both club competitions.
