2027 AFC Asian Cup, Saudi Arabia

[amenina]

https://www.the-afc.com/en/national/afc ... ecommended

Two-year countdown: Dates for AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027™ confirmed
TUE, 07 JANUARY, 2025

Kuala Lumpur: The upcoming edition of Asia’s crown jewel – the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027™ – will take place from January 7 to February 5, 2027, across three cities – the Kingdom’s capital Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar, marking the two-year countdown to the 19th edition of the Continent’s most prestigious men’s football tournament.

A total of five stadiums in Riyadh will host the Continent’s elite: the King Fahd Sports City Stadium, the King Saud University Stadium, Imam Mohammed Ibn Saud University Stadium, Kingdom Arena and the Al Shabab Stadium.

Two stadiums have been confirmed for Jeddah – the King Abdullah Sports City and the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Sports City Stadium – with a new state-of-the-art venue to be built in Al Khobar, completing the world-class infrastructure set to provide the backdrop for Asia’s top 24 national teams.

Chairperson of the Organising Committee for AFC Asian Cup (OCAC) Mariano V. Araneta Jr., who received an overview of the upcoming plans during the 3rd OCAC meeting in Riyadh, before the decisions were ratified by the AFC Executive Committee, said: “The record-setting AFC Asian Cup™ in Qatar exceeded all our expectations. In every way, Qatar 2023 has set the benchmark of excellence for all future editions of Asia’s flagship tournament.

“We are resolute in our commitment to improve Asia’s crown jewel with each passing edition and the foundations are now in place for Saudi Arabia to host a truly exceptional tournament in 2027.

“The focus of global football is now shifting towards the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and we thank the Saudi Arabian Football Federation and the Local Organising Committee for their remarkable efforts thus far.

“We are confident that they will bring to bear their top-class hosting capabilities and warm hospitality for the benefit of everyone across the Continent and beyond, and we wish them the very best of success.”

President of Saudi Arabian Football Federation Mr. Yasser Al Misehal commented: “Confirming the dates and selecting the stadiums for the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027™ is a strategic milestone in our journey to host the tournament. This announcement goes beyond simply identifying locations and schedules; it reflects the ongoing high-level collaboration between us and the AFC as we work towards delivering an exceptional tournament that fulfills the aspirations of the entire Asian continent.”

He added: “We are working tirelessly to ensure that the stadiums not only meet the highest international standards but also offer an unforgettable experience for both players and fans. With the tournament’s timing optimally set for teams and supporters, we are confident that we will deliver a comprehensive sporting experience that extends beyond the matches themselves, creating a unique and integrated event that showcases Saudi Arabia’s status as a hub for major international sporting events.”

Eighteen teams have already sealed their places at the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027™. The remaining berths will be decided via the Qualifiers Final Round, which is scheduled to commence from March 2025 and features six groups of four teams – confirmed at last month’s draw – with the winners of each group to make up the final cast.

[Lorric]

These qualifying groups are strange, they're dragging them out unnecessarily. 5 windows to play 6 games. Even AFC WCQ will be finished before then, except for the intercontinental playoffs team.

[Shing]

I am not sure whether it is a good idea that Asian Cup is held only a few months after World Cup. They are the only two major tournaments that AFC teams can participate (excluding being guest teams in Concacaf Gold Cup/Copa America). This gives a large gap that AFC teams have no major tournaments.

[amenina]

Eight stadiums across 3 cities are set to welcome Asia at #Saudi2027

[amenina]

These qualifying groups are strange, they're dragging them out unnecessarily. 5 windows to play 6 games. Even AFC WCQ will be finished before then, except for the intercontinental playoffs team.

The play-off round, which eliminated the worst three teams, finished in September 2024. The last matches of the final round will be played in March 2026. So they have about 18 months to play 6 matches. Might as well drag it out....

I guess in general they want to avoid playing two matches in the same window because of the distance teams may have to travel in the continent. The only window where two matches are played is October 2025, where two teams will play back-to-back home-and-away matches against each other. So both teams are at least making the same travel plans, so neither team will have an advantage.

Interestingly there is no WCQ or ACQ matches in September 2025, because in that window the qualifiers for the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup will be played. But it is basically a useless tournament, since it is not an Olympic year and will not be used as qualifying for any tournament. Thankfully, the are getting rid of the non-Olympic year U-23 Asian Cup after this, and the tournament will only be held every 4 years for Olympic qualification.

[amenina]

I am not sure whether it is a good idea that Asian Cup is held only a few months after World Cup. They are the only two major tournaments that AFC teams can participate (excluding being guest teams in Concacaf Gold Cup/Copa America). This gives a large gap that AFC teams have no major tournaments.

Last time after they change the hosts from China PR to Qatar, they have to move the tournament to January/February 2024, because obviously it is not feasible to hold it in January/February 2023, right after the World Cup in November/December 2022.

But other than that, all tournaments from 2011 onwards are held about 6 months after the World Cup. I think the Asian teams actually prefer that, because after the World Cup, it is the start of a new 4-year cycle, and right off teams have a competitive tournament to look at new players and maybe a new manager.

If this time they again hold it in January/February 2028, it will be almost 2 years after the end of the qualifiers in March 2026. Such a gap is simply too big for teams to maintain any sort of momentum from the qualifiers to the final tournament.

[Shing]

I am not sure whether it is a good idea that Asian Cup is held only a few months after World Cup. They are the only two major tournaments that AFC teams can participate (excluding being guest teams in Concacaf Gold Cup/Copa America). This gives a large gap that AFC teams have no major tournaments.

Last time after they change the hosts from China PR to Qatar, they have to move the tournament to January/February 2024, because obviously it is not feasible to hold it in January/February 2023, right after the World Cup in November/December 2022.

But other than that, all tournaments from 2011 onwards are held about 6 months after the World Cup. I think the Asian teams actually prefer that, because after the World Cup, it is the start of a new 4-year cycle, and right off teams have a competitive tournament to look at new players and maybe a new manager.

If this time they again hold it in January/February 2028, it will be almost 2 years after the end of the qualifiers in March 2026. Such a gap is simply too big for teams to maintain any sort of momentum from the qualifiers to the final tournament.

If holding Asian Cup in 2028, could start Asian Cup qualifiers after World Cup, and double it as first round of the next World Cup qualifiers.

[amenina]

https://saffederation.org/news/read/133

SAFF EX.CO MEETING APPROVES HOME OR AWAY FORMAT FOR SAFF CHAMPIONSHIP 2025
Kathmandu

8 Jan 2025

The South Asian Football Federation’s Executive Committee meeting that was held in Kathmandu on Wednesday (8 Jan 2025) has approved to award the marketing rights of certain number of SAFF competitions to its commercial partner Sportfive.

The first among the list of competitions approved by the meeting was holding the SAFF Championship 2025 in a home or away format from 15 June – 25 July. Under the agreement, the rights shall be with Spotfive till 2029 with the championship taking place biennially.

“ We will try our best to hold the championship in a home or away format but if there arises any issue later on we shall do it in a centralized format this year,” said SAFF General Secretary Anwarul Huq after the meeting.

It was also decided to hold SAFF’s first-ever club competition from 2026 consisting of eight teams. Among the eight teams, the country that is ranked at the top in the AFC Club Rankings shall have two slots.

A women’s club competition is also on the cards from 2025. Another competition that was approved is SAFF U-23 Championship from 2026.

SAFF Youth Competitions approved by the meeting:

SAFF U-19 Championship, 8-18 May 2025
SAFF U-20 Women’s Championship, 11-21 July 2025
SAFF U-17 Women’s Championship, 14-24 September 2025
SAFF U-17 Championship, 17-27 October 2025

[amenina]

https://saffederation.org/news/read/133

SAFF EX.CO MEETING APPROVES HOME OR AWAY FORMAT FOR SAFF CHAMPIONSHIP 2025
Kathmandu

8 Jan 2025

The South Asian Football Federation’s Executive Committee meeting that was held in Kathmandu on Wednesday (8 Jan 2025) has approved to award the marketing rights of certain number of SAFF competitions to its commercial partner Sportfive.

The first among the list of competitions approved by the meeting was holding the SAFF Championship 2025 in a home or away format from 15 June – 25 July. Under the agreement, the rights shall be with Spotfive till 2029 with the championship taking place biennially.

“ We will try our best to hold the championship in a home or away format but if there arises any issue later on we shall do it in a centralized format this year,” said SAFF General Secretary Anwarul Huq after the meeting.

It was also decided to hold SAFF’s first-ever club competition from 2026 consisting of eight teams. Among the eight teams, the country that is ranked at the top in the AFC Club Rankings shall have two slots.

A women’s club competition is also on the cards from 2025. Another competition that was approved is SAFF U-23 Championship from 2026.

SAFF Youth Competitions approved by the meeting:

SAFF U-19 Championship, 8-18 May 2025
SAFF U-20 Women’s Championship, 11-21 July 2025
SAFF U-17 Women’s Championship, 14-24 September 2025
SAFF U-17 Championship, 17-27 October 2025

https://www.thedailystar.net/sports/foo ... es-3794741

June’s SAFF Championship to feature home-and-away fixtures

The 15th edition of the SAFF Championship is set to commence on June 15, with the South Asian Football Federation's (SAFF) executive committee approving a new home-and-away format on Wednesday.

The regional governing body replaced the previous centralized venue structure, based on recommendations from sponsoring partner Sports 5.

"The meeting decided to hold the SAFF Championship in a new format, on a home-and-away basis, and it will take nearly 30 to 35 days after starting in June 15 this year," SAFF general secretary Anwarul Haque Helal told The Daily Star over the phone the board meeting in Kathmandu on Wednesday.

Under the new format, each of the seven participating nations will play six matches -- three at home and three away. However, the India-Pakistan matches will be held at a neutral venue.

The meeting also approved two new tournaments for this year: the SAFF U-23 Championship and the SAFF Women's Club Cup Championship. The latter, set to run from November 6–19, will feature eight teams competing at a centralised venue.

However, given that not all countries have women's clubs, FIFA rankings will determine the number of teams from each nation.

Moreover, the SAFF is on the verge of signing a deal with Sports 5 to hold the SAFF Men's Club Championship in 2026. The tournament will involve eight teams, playing home-and-away matches, with the top-ranked team having two representatives.

[Tazmania]

These qualifying groups are strange, they're dragging them out unnecessarily. 5 windows to play 6 games. Even AFC WCQ will be finished before then, except for the intercontinental playoffs team.

The play-off round, which eliminated the worst three teams, finished in September 2024. The last matches of the final round will be played in March 2026. So they have about 18 months to play 6 matches. Might as well drag it out....

I guess in general they want to avoid playing two matches in the same window because of the distance teams may have to travel in the continent. The only window where two matches are played is October 2025, where two teams will play back-to-back home-and-away matches against each other. So both teams are at least making the same travel plans, so neither team will have an advantage.

Interestingly there is no WCQ or ACQ matches in September 2025, because in that window the qualifiers for the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup will be played. But it is basically a useless tournament, since it is not an Olympic year and will not be used as qualifying for any tournament. Thankfully, the are getting rid of the non-Olympic year U-23 Asian Cup after this, and the tournament will only be held every 4 years for Olympic qualification.

I've been thinking about the U23 age limit teams recently in the context of the UEFA championship and I came to the conclusion that it's an important team and the biennial tournament format should be maintained.

Firstly it gives players who have passed the U19 age limit the opportunity to continue their NT careers even if they're not ready to be selected for the national team, secondly it gives players who are on the fringe of the NT an opportunity to play in a team in which they typically have more responsibility than they would among more experienced teammates in the NT, and thirdly it offers a route to fast-track younger players who are almost ready for the NT but are too good for the U19 team.

[Tazmania]

I am not sure whether it is a good idea that Asian Cup is held only a few months after World Cup. They are the only two major tournaments that AFC teams can participate (excluding being guest teams in Concacaf Gold Cup/Copa America). This gives a large gap that AFC teams have no major tournaments.

Last time after they change the hosts from China PR to Qatar, they have to move the tournament to January/February 2024, because obviously it is not feasible to hold it in January/February 2023, right after the World Cup in November/December 2022.

But other than that, all tournaments from 2011 onwards are held about 6 months after the World Cup. I think the Asian teams actually prefer that, because after the World Cup, it is the start of a new 4-year cycle, and right off teams have a competitive tournament to look at new players and maybe a new manager.

If this time they again hold it in January/February 2028, it will be almost 2 years after the end of the qualifiers in March 2026. Such a gap is simply too big for teams to maintain any sort of momentum from the qualifiers to the final tournament.

That's why they need to decouple Asian Cup qualifying from WC qualifying.

Despite having 47 members, AFC will only organise about 300 non-final tournament NT games in the 2023-27 cycle. Too few opportunities for too many members.

[amenina]

Apparently this was the proposal for the AFC National League and also WCQ and ACQ, which was rejected mainly due to opposition from the top associations.

Again, thanks to @Tazmania for the tip.

https://x.com/JHmiller697/status/1859248961002856590

[Shing]

Thanks for posting the AFC Nations League proposal! I do like using "Swiss" for league stage. Playing with 6 different opponents give more variations and more refreshing than 3. I think UEFA could also consider this in NL competitions.

Top AFC associations rejected this seems because they want more opportunity to play against teams from other confederations. I think could make AFC Nations League schedule align with UEFA. Could make it only have league matches but not a finals. Schedule the league matches in September to November, where UEFA teams are always busy. So that top AFC teams could be free in March and June to have more chance to play against UEFA teams. As there is no finals, could just give the AFC Nations League title to the top ranked team in League A.

I do not like the qualifiers elite round. It makes 29 teams have a long time have no competitive matches. Alternatively, I think could make AFC Nations League an annual tournament to be played in September to November every year. League A before World Cup will be final round of WCQ, and the editions before that could be considered early rounds of WCQ. The concept is similar with UEFA Women's Olympics qualifiers and UEFA youth qualifiers.

[Tazmania]

Yes, according to the ASEAN zonal association's tweet, that's what the higher-ranked AFC members disliked, so many games against Asian opponents (this is what they said the disagreement was over). It'll be interesting to see what compromise is agreed upon. I suspect the majority agreed to vote to abolish AFC presidential term limits last year - otherwise this would be Salman's last term - in exchange for more opportunities and a better pathway.

I've emailed the format I devised below to the five AFC zonal associations; it's based on the two-league format to be used for U19 EURO qualifying from 2026-27 after it was explained here how it'll work.

It's much simpler than the AFC proposal and might be a compromise all AFC members can agree on:

- annually the 47 teams play in two leagues - A and B - in 6 groups of 4 teams each (one group in League B would have 3 teams), home-and-away matches played in September, October and November;

- annually A1 and A2 stay in League A while B3 and B4 stay in League B. A4 automatically relegated and B1 automatically promoted. 6 x home-and-away promotion-relegation playoffs every March between A3-B2, winners to the next League A and losers to the next League B;

- in odd years League A doubles as the Asian Cup (to be moved to even years with 16 teams) and World Cup qualifiers (for example, in 2029-30 the winners of the 6 x League A groups and the 2 x highest-ranked runners-up automatically qualify for the WC while the third-ranked runner-up qualifies for the inter-confederation playoff).

Advantages over AFC proposal:
- simple format for fans to understand, particularly considering more casual fans follow NT football compared to club football;
- fans will become used to the idea that the autumn FIFA windows every year are for AFC NT league football (and qualifiers in odd years) and that it will be completed in just three consecutive months (plus March for the promotion-relegation playoffs);
- exactly 600 games per 4-year cycle, double the number in the current cycle;
- March (except for the 12 teams in the promotion-relegation playoffs) and June free every year for friendlies (and FIFA Series every March in even years which is to be significantly expanded from 2026 after the 2024 pilot edition);
- more high-stakes games to increase fan engagement and AFC revenue from media and sponsorship sales;
- an annual objective and pathway for every team;
- entering the March window of odd years, 30 teams still have the opportunity to qualify for AC or WC 15 months before the final tournament, while entering the September window of odd years 24 teams still have the opportunity to qualify 9 months before the final tournament;
- regular competitive games annually increases commercial opportunities for national associations in terms of increasing fan engagement and securing more and better local sponsors (the latter has happened in Concacaf since its NL started according to a recent interview the Concacaf president gave which I watched on YouTube).

[Lorric]

Well I'm glad this prevented the Swiss System getting a foothold in international football.

Asia should have a League A of 8 teams imo. No wonder the top teams didn't want to be involved.