FC Goa to play maiden Asian Champions League at home as Goa secures hosting rights of Group E fixtures

After confirming the venues for the AFC Cup a few weeks back the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have confirmed the venues of the Asian Champions League. The announcement has been received with a massive cheer from Indian football fans as FC Goa, who are going to be the first Indian club to feature in the tournament will play their home matches in Goa along with the other Group E matches.

The decision was taken by AFC after an extensive feedback exercise with its Participating Member Associations, commercial partners and all relevant stakeholders.

The venues of the other groups have also been revealed and the Western region group stage fixtures will be taking place in Saudi Arabia. The capital city of Riyadh will act as the host for the matches of both Group A and D which will take place from April 14-30. While the port city of Jeddah will act as the host for the Group C matches. For Group B the city of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates has been chosen with Goa, India getting the hosting rights of Group E fixtures.

Considering the challenges posed by COVID and also keeping in mind the restriction AFC has postponed the games of the Eastern region. Mainly because of the extensive travel and quarantine protocols. The matches which were supposed to be held during the month of April or May will now be scheduled in June/July. Thailand has been selected as the hosts to stage the matches of Group  F, G and J while the hosts for Group H and I and also the dates for the fixtures for all the groups are yet to be announced by AFC. Even the preliminary and playoffs rounds have been postponed and will be scheduled later in centralised venues for all the groups.

The bidding process among all the Participating Member Nations was long and hard but AFC has assured that they have given extra notice on healthcare especially during the time of a global pandemic.

Dato’ Windsor John, the AFC General Secretary, said: “On behalf of the Asian football family, I would like to thank all our Member Associations for their interest in hosting our club competitions and commitment towards ensuring we continue to place the safety and wellbeing of our players, teams, and officials at the forefront of all our priorities.

“The AFC is most grateful for the support of the AFC Competitions Committee and our commercial partners and we will continue to safeguard the interests of all stakeholders as we strive to ensure a safe and successful 2021 club football season.”