Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Manila: The AFC Competitions Committee on Friday decided to award the hosting rights of the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship to Qatar.
The committee, which met under the acting chairmanship of Deputy Chairman Dr. Tran Quoc Tuan, selected the hosts of the 2022 FIFA World Cup over the other bidding nations Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The 16-nation biennial competition, which was launched as the AFC U-22 Championship last year, has also been renamed as the AFC U-23 Championship and serves as the Olympics qualifiers in every alternate edition. Top three teams from the 2016 edition will represent Asia at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
In his opening remarks, AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa praised the work put in by the members of the committee saying the changes made in the format of the competitions will surely have a positive impact on the confederation.
He said everyone is looking forward to Asia’s biggest competition – AFC Asian Cup – in Australia next year and expressed confidence that Australia will prove to be excellent hosts.
The members approved the regulations for the 2016 editions of the AFC U-16, U-19 and U-23 Championships as well as the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup.
It was also decided to introduce two rounds of playoff matches to decide the final eight teams for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup final round of qualifiers. Top eight teams and four best runners-up teams will qualify directly for Asia’s flagship competition while 24 teams will vie for the 12 remaining slots in the final round of qualifiers.
Apart from that, the committee finalised the slot allocation for the 2015 and 2016 editions of the AFC Champions League based on the criteria, including AFC’s MA rankings and the implementation of club licensing regulations.
In addition, the committee decided on the participation of Member Associations in the 2015 and 2016 editions of the AFC Cup.
All decisions made by this committee must be ratified by the AFC Executive Committee to take effect.