Next SWAFF meeting after FIFA World Cup

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

A source, who also attended its first meeting in Jeddah recently, told ‘The News’ on Thursday that the SWAFF May 25 meeting had been postponed and now it would hold its next meeting after the FIFA 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 both South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) and West Asian Football Federation (WAFF).

It is also expected that the ten nations which met in Jeddah during the Kings Cup final a few days ago meet in Russia during the World Cup to talk on the proposal, which if implemented, would see to emerge a new regional association under Saudi Arabia. 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) the other day refused to comment on the development.

“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 SWAFF first informal meeting in Jeddah.

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