AFC Cup 2020 highly likely to get cancelled: Bassam
Maldives' clubs will face a major loss if it is cancelled
Maziya head to head with Bangledesh team during the qualifier\'s round
The Football Association of Maldives (FAM) has stressed that chances are high that the AFC Cup matches scheduled in Maldives may get called off.
Maldives clubs Maziya Sports and Recreation as well as TC Sports are scheduled to join the matches previously scheduled in Maldives capital, Malé City.
AFC Cup matches were halted due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, during March and since then, the centralized groups stage matches had been scheduled to kick off in October.
Under the preparations, matches in the group stage of the South Asian zone were scheduled to be held in the Maldives.
Speaking on RaajjeTV’s Kulhivaru File programme, FAM’s President Bassam Adeel Jaleel revealed that a meeting of the AFC’s Competition's Committee has been scheduled for the upcoming month, to reach a decision regarding the competition.
Bassam stressed that chances are high for the competition to get cancelled.
Manager of TC Sports Club, Mohamed Eesa revealed that the team will incur major losses if the competition is cancelled and that they had undergone a lot of preparations for the AFC Cup including expenses and selecting foreign players.
Stressing that the accommodation for foreign players and players coming in from outlying atolls as well as their tickets have been settled, Eesa noted that players will have nothing to do until the beginning of the football season, should the competition be cancelled, and that the club’s expenditure will increase as well.
Similarly, recently-appointed coach of Maziya, Mohamed Nizam stressed that irreversible losses will surface for the team should the competition get cancelled.
At a time the chances are slim for the AFC Cup to be hosted at all this year, sources report that the major concern leans towards the lack of hosts for most of the group stage matches, as many countries do not wish to host the matches at a time the globe is locked in a battle with the new strand of coronavirus.
AFC’s Competition's Committee is set to reach a decision regarding calling off competitions, following official discussions in September.
Further, there are also high chances for AFC Champions League to be cancelled, despite AFC having assured that they will put in their best efforts to make sure the competitions proceed, uninterruptedly.
Maldives secured the bid to host AFC Cup Group E matches and the matches were scheduled to kick off on October 23, through November 4.
In a previous group stage, Maziya and TC had competed against Bangladesh and India on March 12.
TC lost to Bashundhara Kings 5-1 while Maziya tied with Chennai City FC 2-2.
