Asian Cup postponed

**Asian Cup Postponed**

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has announced that the dates for the 2027 Asian Cup, scheduled to be held in Saudi Arabia, have been changed.

According to the new schedule, the tournament will start on December 23, 2027, with the final set for January 21. Previously, the competition was planned to take place from January 7 to February 5, 2027.

Thus, the start of the continental championship is being delayed by 350 days, which is nearly a year.

This decision was made following extensive discussions involving the AFC, the organizing committee, and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation.

The change in the tournament's start date was caused by the tense military-political situation in the Middle East. In recent months, the Houthis in Yemen have been launching missile and drone strikes on the territory of Saudi Arabia. This had raised serious security concerns.

In particular, in one of the attacks on the international airport in Riyadh in October, 12 people were killed and more than 300 were injured.

The AFC and the tournament organizers cited the region's "emergency situation, severe logistical complexities, and disruptions in transport services" as the main factors for the schedule change.

Earlier, AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa had also announced that the tournament could be postponed to 2028 if the security situation deteriorated.

For information, Uzbekistan is among the 24 national teams that have qualified for the Asian Cup. Fabio Cannavaro's side will play against Jordan, the DPRK, and Bahrain in the group stage.

No information has yet been provided regarding changes to the host cities and stadiums. According to the new calendar, Uzbekistan's group stage matches will now take place on December 24, 2027 (against Jordan in Jeddah), December 28 (against North Korea in Riyadh), and January 2, 2028 (against Bahrain in Jeddah).