Meeting to discuss SWAFF formation after World Cup

KARACHI: The next meeting of Saudi Arabia-led proposed South West Asian Football Federation (SWAFF) will be held after the FIFA World Cup which begins in Russia next month.

A source who attended its first meeting in Jeddah recently told ‘The News’ on Thursday that the SWAFF May 25 meeting had been postponed and it would be held after the World Cup.

The source said that no solid development had been made towards the formation of the SWAFF, an association which would have nations from South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) and West Asian Football Federation (WAFF).

It is expected that the ten nations which met in Jeddah during the Kings Cup final a few days ago will meet in Russia during the World Cup to discuss the proposal, which if implemented, would create a new regional association.

The source said when he was told about the initiative of the Saudi Arabia to form such an association he told them to send the detailed proposals to Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) which would study them and would take a decision after a formal consent from its Executive Committee.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) refused to comment on the development the other day. “Until the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has received detailed proposals from the Member Associations of the South West Asian Football Federation, we will not be able to comment,” the AFC told ‘The News’ after the first informal meeting in Jeddah.

At the meeting, there were officials of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Kuwait, Yemen, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Maldives and Sri Lanka. Nepal and Bhutan could not attend the meeting due to various reasons.