Asian Football Confederation president Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and UAE Football Association president Yousuf Al Sarkal officially signed the Organising Association Agreement (OAA) for hosting the 2019 AFC Asian Cup late on Thursday night.
The signing ceremony was attended by Major General Mohammad Khalfan Al Rumaithi, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Abu Dhabi Police, Member of the AFC Executive Committee, Mohammad Bin Thaloap Al Darie, Chairman of the Wrestling, Judo and Kickboxing Association alongside the members of the UAE FA board of directors and the Members of the Higher Organising Committee of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.
The UAE, who had previously hosted the premier Asian competition in 1996, were given the hosting rights of the 24-team competition by the AFC Executive Committee in its March 9 meeting earlier this year.
“The AFC is looking forward to seeing a successful organisation and an exceptional edition following the great success of the previous edition in Australia that has broken all records last January,” said Shaikh Salman, adding, “The UAE will be facing a strong challenge, but I’m confident that the Higher Organising Committee will live up to the expectations and provide the highest standards of organisation.”
The inclusion of more teams for the 2019 event has been based on the merger of the AFC and Fifa World Cup joint qualifiers (Fifa World Cup Russia 2018 and the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019), revealed Salman. “We are surprised to see the tough competition and it has added excitement and thrill to the event. I think the change in format has proved to be successful until now,” he added.
AFC also launched the AFC Club Licensing Administration System (CLAS) on this occasion. The federation had implemented the system of Club Licensing in 2011 and over the last few years, the system has tremendously developed the growth of professionalism among clubs in Asia.
Speaking on the occasion, Al Sarkal said that the Higher Organising Committee of the Championship under the presidency of Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Advisor and Deputy Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, will give utmost attention to the organisation of the championship and will succeed in providing an exceptional edition.
“The event will be a turning point and landmark in the history of UAE sport and will carve a new path for the country’s football. We had successfully hosted this event in 1996 and this time too, it will be a smash hit,” he said.
