RIYADH — The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Competitions Committee decided on Friday to nominate the Saudi club Al-Hilal, holder of the Asian Championship, to represent Asia in the next edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, which will be held in Morocco.

The decision to nominate Al-Hilal came as the 2022 AFC Champions League competitions could not completed before the start of the world championship.

The AFC committee also decided, in the wake of the Bahrain Football Association apologized for its inability to host the AFC U-17 Junior Championship 2023, to approve a proposal to grant the tournament to the Thai Football Association.

The members of the committee took into account the challenges facing the participation of the host national federation teams for the finals of the Confederations Championship in the qualifiers for these tournaments. The committee decided that the host countries’ teams would not participate in the qualifiers for the continental championship leagues.

The committee approved the instructions for the AFC Champions League 2023-2024, the AFC Cup 2023-2024, the AFC U-23 Cup 2024, and the amendments to the guide for participating in club competitions in the AFC. — SPA