AFC Cup likely to be cancelled

Bangladesh champions Bashundhara Kings' journey in their debut AFC Cup campaign might be over after just a single match as the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) might be forced to cancel the competition due to the aggravation of Covid-19 in host countries.

Bashundhara Kings took pole position in Group E with a 5-1 thrashing of TC Sports of Maldives in their opening fixture on March 11, but the Bangladesh giants' campaign was stalled immediately as coronavirus spread throughout the continent, forcing the continental body to reschedule the remaining group matches of the competition at centralised venues in September and October.

The Group E matches were rescheduled from October 23 in Maldives with two Maldivian sides along with and Chennai City of India and Bashundhara Kings the four teams. Vietnam, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan were the other four confirmed centralised venues, but no member nation has yet shown interest to be hosts for the four remaining groups.

With this issue in mind and the rising number of coronavirus cases in some of the host nations, the AFC is planning to cancel this edition altogether. The continental body has already cancelled its draw ceremony and it is believed that a decision of cancellation of the competition will come within a week following analysis by the AFC bodies on the basis of recommendations by the competitions committee.

A Bangladesh Football Federation official, on condition of anonymity, said that cancellation is on the cards.

"There hasn't been any decision made yet as the internal bodies of AFC are analysing the situation. The coronavirus situation in host countries is a concern for the AFC. There are also the matters of air-travel and quarantine period in those countries. Hence it looks likely that the competition may not go ahead," said the official.

Mentionable here is the fact that AFC has already postponed the remaining rounds of the 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup joint qualifiers, which were originally scheduled for June this year and later deferred to October-November window, to 2021.

However, Bashundhara Kings are not taking their foot off the gas as yet as they are eyeing the domestic circuit and a probable friendly match with a foreign team. The team has already started its camp after completing Covid-19 tests of players and officials.

"We haven't been informed anything regarding cancellation officially, but we know there are issues with hosting of a few groups," Bashundhara Kings chairman Imrul Hasan told The Daily Star yesterday. "AFC Cup was our priority, but we have the domestic season to look forward to and we might play a friendly match with a foreign team too."