COVID-19 halts 2020 AFC Cup

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

 

The Asian Football Confederation’s Executive Committee just confirmed that they will be scrapping the 2020 AFC Cup.

In an announcement on Wednesday, the AFC committee bared that the league has decided on a stoppage mainly due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In view of the logistics in coordinating the five zones of the AFC Cup and completing the Inter-Zone matches, the AFC Executive Committee also agreed that the pandemic created complexities which constituted a Force Majeure event and, with sadness, led to the cancellation of the 2020 competition,” wrote the committee in their statement.

During the past two months, the AFC committee, together with their partnered organizations, was planning for a late league resumption but quickly scrapped their plans after seeing the pandemic continue to strike havoc across different countries.

After the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases approved the professional teams’ practice under the General Community Quarantine (GCQ), PH’s representatives for the tourney, the Kaya-FC Iloilo and the United City FC, formerly the Ceres-Negros FC, are already conducting conditioning practices in preparation for the AFC.

Following the AFC committee’s announcement regarding the league’s postponement, both teams will have to wait for further notice as to the league’s resumption.