Coronavirus concerns cancels AFC meeting in Bahrain

TDT | Manama

Coronavirus concerns in Bahrain have affected a couple of high-profile football events set to take place in the Kingdom next month, with the events either being postponed or under threat of cancellation. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) published a document on its website confirming the postponement of an AFC Executive Committee meeting, originally set to be held in Bahrain on March 14. This gathering was scheduled ahead of a congress of member nations on April 16 in Kuala Lumpur, which has also been postponed. No new dates have been given for the meetings. Meanwhile, Bahrain’s international friendly match against Malaysia, scheduled for March 21 at home, is under threat of cancellation.

A national team official said yesterday that the situation is being monitored and the tuneup game has yet to be officially scratched. The friendly is set to be a part of Bahrain’s national team preparations for their upcoming Fifa World Cup 2022 and AFC Asian Cup 2023 qualifier against Cambodia just a few days later on March 26. It is currently unknown if the qualifier will be impacted in any way by the coronavirus concerns. Furthermore, Bahrain are also scheduled to play their counterparts from New Zealand in a friendly match on March 30, but it is currently unknown how that game will be affected. According to the website stuff. co.nz, New Zealand Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell said in a statement that they were monitoring the situation closely, “Keeping our players and support staff safe is first and foremost for us,” the statement said. “It’s too soon to say if coronavirus will affect our plans, but we’re monitoring the fast-changing situation daily, wherever our teams are travelling.

” Bahrain have three games remaining in Group C of the jointWorld Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers. After Cambodia, then play Iran in Tehran on June 4, before closing out this stage against Hong Kong at home on June 9. Iraq are currently atop the group standings with 11 points. They have a two-point lead over Bahrain. Iran are third with six points and have a game in hand, while Hong Kong were fourth on five points and Cambodia fifth with one. In this phase of the joint-qualifiers, there are eight groups in all, with five nations in each group. Teams play home and away matches. At the end, the eight group winners and the four best runners-up advance to the third round of World Cup qualifying, and also book their berths in the Asian Cup. The next best 24 teams will compete in a separate competition for the remaining 12 slots in the Asian Cup.