AFC Executive Committee underlines support for Palestine FA

MUSCAT: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Executive Committee on Tuesday pledged their support to the Palestine Football Association (PFA) after recent interference in their football jurisdiction by Israeli military forces and proposed the urgent set-up of a task force to address the situation.

At the meeting in Muscat, the capital of Oman on the eve of the AFC Annual Awards, the Executive Committee condemned this interference in the strongest terms and offered their support to the PFA.

Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa, AFC president, said: “We will discuss with Fifa to set up a task force to address this issue immediately. It will be an operational task force with the GSS of Fifa, AFC, Uefa, PFA and Israeli FA as members to meet and propose a solution.

“We hope something good will come out of this Task Force to support our friends in PFA. Our commitment in supporting the PFA position is total.”

The Executive Committee discussed the request from the Bahrain FA for their club(s) to be allowed to participate in the Saudi Arabian Professional League and decided to forward the request of the Bahrain FA to Fifa once all the relevant documentation have been satisfied and completed to be consistent with earlier precedents.

The AFC president praised the Oman FA and the Sultanate of Oman for their excellent hospitality and outstanding arrangements for tomorrow evening’s AFC Annual Awards 2018 which will be staged at the Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre.

The AFC Executive Committee also accepted an offer from the Hong Kong Football Association to host the AFC Annual Awards in 2019.

The Local Organising Committee of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 were also thanked for their preparation for the biggest and best-ever tournament and the AFC President said: “The referees have been briefed, the teams are in the final stages of their preparation and now we are all looking forward to the opening game between the UAE and Bahrain on January 5.

“Video Assistant Referee (VAR) has been approved as proposed by the AFC Referees Committee from the quarter final stage of the Asian Cup with the support of Fifa and IFAB. This tournament will showcase the growing development of Asian football and our ability to organise top level competitions.”