In the presence of the Minister of Sports Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal, also the President of Saudi 2027 dossier to host AFC Asian Cup finals, the joint workshops with Asian Football Confederation (AFC) were launched Friday evening. The event was also attended by the AFC delegation, which started an official inspection visit to Kingdom. On the occasion, the Minister of Sports delivered a speech at the joint workshops during which he welcomed the members of the AFC delegation. He hailed the importance of this visit since it allows the delegation to be briefed on the Saudi 2027 dossier as a step towards pushing football forward, not only at the level of the Kingdom, but also at the level of the Asian continent. The five-day inspection visit to the Kingdom gains importance as the vote on the winning bid to host the 2027 Asian Cup finals approaches. The visit includes an inspection of the facilities and plans of the “Saudi Arabia 2027” dossier to host the tournament for the first time in the Kingdom’s history. During this visit, the Asian delegation will experience much of the experience that awaits the fans and teams present and will participate in 2027, as it will depart from Riyadh, pass through Dammam, and end in Jeddah. These three cities have been chosen by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation to be nominated to host the tournament. In all eight stadiums, five to be built and renovated over the next few years, are to be used for the 2027 event. The Saudi Arabian Football Federation had officially presented itself to host the tournament in February last year with a slogan that carried a new vision for the future of Asian football, “Together for the future of Asia”, believing from the dossier that the tournament is for the entire Asian continent. The Kingdom is looking forward to organizing an unforgettable tournament, as Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that most believes in football development plans and aspires to play a leading role in the progress of football Asian by hosting the tournament for the first time. Ibrahim Al-Qassem, CEO of the dossier and secretary general of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, welcomed the AFC delegation, underlining their full availability for this visit and their readiness to present and discuss Saudi Arabia’s 2027 plans. It is worth noting that the Saudi 2027 bid is in competition with Qatar, India and Iran, with the Asian Football Confederation set to announce the winning bid during the coming year 2022 through the voting system for members of the Federation General Assembly. — SG/SPA