Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa yesterday hailed the solidarity and unity which has not only allowed the AFC to begin the recovery from Covid-19 but also deliver more global events to Asia.
In the first ever AFC executive committee meeting to be held online, Shaikh Salman praised all member associations (MA) for their contributions to the health and wellbeing of their communities during the crisis.
The AFC president was joined by the executive committee in congratulating the Football Federation Australia on the success of their joint bid with New Zealand Football to host the Fifa Women’s World Cup in 2023 – the first cross-Confederation hosts of any Fifa competition.
Shaikh Salman said Asia will now be the focus of world football in the coming years.
“Asia can look forward to hosting not only the Fifa World Cup in Qatar in 2022 but the Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2023 and the Fifa Club World Cup in China in the near future.
“Then next year Asia will welcome not only the Olympic football tournament in Tokyo but also the Fifa Women’s U-17 World Cup in India and the Fifa U-20 World Cup in Indonesia and not forgetting the Fifa supported Pan-Arab tournament to be held in December 2021 in Qatar as part of preparations for the World Cup 2022. The focus of world football will be on Asia and I know that we can deliver.”