At the AFC Executive meeting, held online, the AFC President congratulated everyone involved in the hard work that has been required to ensure that the AFC Champions League Group Stage West region and knockout rounds can go ahead safely.

Shaikh Salman said: “A huge amount of work has been undertaken to ensure these matches can kick off on September 14 and the AFC has been extremely professional in ensuring that the matches can go ahead and go ahead safely.

“These matches will be dedicated to our frontline health and care workers who have been the real stars in recent months. The return of football is something to celebrate and so is the contribution of the frontline workers.

“It gives some hope to see football back and there has been great work in putting in place the necessary protocols and procedures to keep everyone safe, so we are taking the first steps. We will also work closely with all the stakeholders in Asia and with FIFA to ensure that football continues.”

The Committee chairperson reflected on a challenging year for world football in the face of the current COVID-19 pandemic and acknowledged ‘the AFC had to postpone and cancel several of our competitions as the health and safety of all our stakeholders took priority.’

The Committee also took important steps to protect as well as continue the improvement of the coaching standards in Asia by replacing the process of the AFC’s approval criteria of coaches at all levels of the game.

In the first ever AFC Executive Committee meeting to be held online, Shaikh Salman praised all the Member Associations for the way that they had contributed to the health and wellbeing of their communities during the recent crisis.

He said: “On behalf of the Asian football family, I thank you all for the work of your initiatives and the work of your MAs on behalf of your communities during this troubled time.”

The Committee agreed to the proposal to move the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup Thailand 2021 from March 18 to 28 to April 28 to May 8 to allow Asia’s top 16 teams more time to prepare for the tournament, which also serves as the qualifiers for the Continent’s top three sides to represent Asia in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Russia 2021 in August.

In a virtual meeting, chaired by His Excellency (HE) Du Zhaocai, the AFC Referees Committee hailed the successful implementation of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system, which marked its debut in the AFC Club Competitions from the Quarter-final stage of the 2020 AFC Champions League (West) in September.