TEHRAN (Iran News) – All national teams and clubs will have to undergo coronavirus tests before departing for continental competitions in 2020, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) told its state members.
Asian qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup, as well as the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup have been on a standstill due to the coronavirus outbreak since early March.
The PCR tests will have to be carried out 72 hours before the teams’ flights and the results should be reported to the AFC Medical Committee.
According to the AFC’s instructions, players and team members with a positive test result will be prohibited from accompanying their teams in the competitions.
The AFC Champions League is to restart on September 14, with all remaining group fixtures of the West and East zones to be centralized in neutral venues – which are yet to be confirmed by the Asian football governing body.
All knockout rounds of the Asian elite club competition – to start on September 26 – will now consist of single-match ties (rather than two-legged fixtures), as well as the final of the competition which is scheduled for December 5.
Additionally, the World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers will resume on October 8 as Iran – under new manager Dragan Skocic – will be back in action against Hong Kong in a home game in Group C – before playing away to Cambodia on October 13.
The two decisive matches for Iran will probably come in November.
Skocic’s team will first meet Bahrain on November 12 and then squares off against Iraq six days later.
Iran currently sits third in the group with six points, trailing group leader Iraq and Bahrain by five and three points – albeit with a game in hand.
The eight group winners and four best runners-up across all groups will advance to the final round of qualifiers.
- source : Iran Daily, Irannews
