The Committee, chaired by Mahfuza Ahkter Kiron, met ahead of Saturday’s AFC U-16 Women’s Championship Thailand 2019 final, which will see DPR Korea compete against Japan in Chonburi.

Following their 2018 recommendation of the establishment of an AFC women’s club competition, the Committee agreed on a series of competition regulations, with the pilot edition, set to involve the champion clubs from four Member Associations - Australia, China PR, Japan and Korea Republic - to be staged on a round-robin basis from November 26 to 30, 2019.

The agreement follows a process involving the input of both the AFC Technical Division and AFC Competitions Department, with the AFC Women’s Club Championship considered a vital step forward in women’s club football throughout the Continent.

Chaired by Salem Said Salem Al Wahaibi, the Committee heard of AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa’s President’s Development Initiative, the President’s Infrastructure Initiative as well as the Technical Staff Initiative and Football Administration Certificate (FAC).

The Committee learnt that 15 Member Associations (MAs) had benefited from the Development Initiative, 23 Mini Pitches were delivered to eight MAs in 2018 while FAC Editions Four and Five saw 42 graduates from 19 MAs and Editions Six and Seven 47 participants from 23 MAs – with Turkmenistan and Syria represented for the first time.

A total of 12 infrastructure projects were approved in 2018 and a further 24 this year under the President’s Infrastructure Initiative while 30 MAs applied for funding under the President’s Technical Staff Initiative of which 22 have been accepted so far.

Chaired by Deputy Chair, Dato’ Dr Gurcharan Singh, the Committee agreed to form a Gender Verification Sub-Committee to consider the complex issues involved in the subject – including the review and update of recommendations, policy and regulations.

It was also decided to help educate Member Associations’ medical personnel to establish a “Unity of Doctrine Policy’ by sharing modern scientific knowledge and research in three-day seminars or workshops.

At the AFC Competitions Committee’s first meeting of the 2019-2023 cycle chaired by Dr. Tran Quoc Tuan, they selected Uzbekistan and Bahrain as they were considered to have the most appropriate facilities for age-group football.

The opportunity to assist Uzbekistan’s football development – combined with the availability of the necessary facilities – was considered important while Bahrain, having bid to host both events, achieved the highest evaluation points on the inspection visit for the U-16 event.

The U-19 tournament will be played between October 14 and 31, 2020 while the U-16 Championship will take place between September 16 and October 3, 2020.

The AFC Solidarity Cup, which provides more competitive matches for the bottom 10 ranked countries (the six eliminated in the first round of the Joint Asian Qualifiers and the bottom four teams in the second round) will be played between November 30, 2020 and December 13, 2020 – once the final round of qualifiers for the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 are concluded.

The Committee also agreed with a recommendation that in 2020, the AFC Champions League Round of 16 matches in the West Zone should be moved from May 25/26 and June 15/16 to May 18/19 and May 25/26, 2020.