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| Ceres Negros, Bali United, and the rest of the teams participating in the AFC Cup will wait until the COVID-19 pandemic slows down significantly before returning to play. Dennis Acosta (file photo) |
By Drew Malihan
MANILA – As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to spread across the world, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) decided to suspend the ongoing 2020 AFC Cup.
In a press statement on their website, the confederation stated that they will postpone the tournament until further notice “following the imposition of further preventive measures and travel restrictions by several national governments due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.”
They added that the decision was done with the AFC Member Associations and the participating clubs to protect the personnel involved as well as the competition’s integrity.
The tournament earlier decided to suspend the East Asia Zone preliminary match between Ulanbaatar City of Mongolia and Taipower of Taiwan on Feb. 11 during the COVID-19 outbreak in China.
The AFC also suspended the group matches in the West Asia and Central Asia Zones before applying it to the entire Asian continent.
The confederation said that they will closely monitor the impending outbreak before making a decision on when to continue the current club competition.
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