Boost for Saudi Arabia’s hopes of staging 2027 AFC Asian Cup

LONDON: Saudi Arabia’s hopes of staging the 2027 Asian Cup have been boosted by last week’s decision of the Asian Football Confederation to give the country hosting rights to no less than five groups in the 2022 AFC Champions League.

On Thursday, it was announced that Riyadh will host two groups of Asia’s flagship club tournament, with Jeddah, Buraidah and Dammam all taking care of one each. These centralized venues, necessary due to travel restrictions and scheduling challenges in place due to the global pandemic, will be in use April 7-27 when the four teams will play each other twice. The fact that there are four cities involved is significant for the 2027 bid in which Saudi Arabia is up against India, Iran and Qatar.

“It is no secret that the AFC sees Saudi Arabia as a safe pair of hands when it comes to hosting major events, especially in difficult times,” a high-ranking AFC official told Arab News. “It is more than being safe, however. We know that the country has the necessary facilities, expertise and experience not just to be a reliable option but to be a top-class host nation.”

There was interest from other countries in the western half of the Champions League — the tournament is split into two geographic zones until the final — but instead of dividing the groups between different nations, as happened in 2021 when India and the UAE were also involved, the decision was made to make it an all-Saudi Arabian affair. In contrast, four of the five groups in the eastern zone will be hosted by three separate countries in Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, with a decision on the fifth still to be confirmed. 

“There was some debate as to whether to give a group to cities such as Dammam and Buraidah, but there is no