Matches set for Riyadh, Jeddah, Buraidah and Dammam from April 7-27 RIYADH: The Asian ambitions of Saudi Arabian clubs received a major boost on Thursday with the announcement that all five groups in the western zone of the 2022 AFC Champions League will be held in the Kingdom in April. This means that Al-Hilal, Al-Shabab and Al-Faisaly will all be playing on home soil as will Al-Taawoun if they defeat Syria’s Al-Jaish in a play-off on March 15. All games will be played in the centralized venues of Riyadh, Jeddah, Buraidah and Dammam from April 7 to 27. The decision still has to be ratified by the AFC’s Executive Committee but that is a formality. As announced recently, due to the 2022 World Cup being held in Qatar in November and December, the knockout stages of the 2022 Champions League have been moved to February 2023. There had been other countries who had expressed interest in hosting at least one of the groups including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan but it was felt that it would be easier in terms of organization and logistics to have all the games in one country. Saudi Arabia got the nod. The capital Riyadh will host two groups. Group A features local club and defending champions Al-Hilal, staying in the capital city to host Istiklol of Tajikistan, who topped their group last year, as well as Qatar’s Al-Rayyan. The trio will be joined by the winner of the play-off between Sharjah of the UAE and Iraqi club Zawraa. Al-Shabab, who qualified for the tournament by virtue of finishing the 2020-21 Saudi Professional League season as runners-up, will also be delighted to stay in Riyadh. The team will be the first opponent in the tournament for Mumbai City. Then comes a clash against Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya of Iraq and then UAE champions Al-Jazira. Al-Shabab have not appeared on the Asian stage since 2015 and came within an away goal of reaching the final five years before that. The six-time Saudi champions now have a great chance of, at least, making the knockout stage this time around. Jeddah is another hotspot of Asian football and home to two teams, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli, who have had success on the continental stage. This time around, both of these giants will be focusing on domestic commitments but the Red Sea port city will be hosting Group C, which includes Foolad of Iran, Qatar’s Al-Gharafa, Dubai club Shabab Al-Ahli and Turkmenistan’s first-ever representative in the group stage of the competition, Ahal. Al-Taawoun have only appeared twice in the AFC Champions League in the past, in 2017 and 2020, and made the last 16 in the latter tournament, only to lose 1-0 to fellow Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr in the Round of 16. If the 2019 King’s Cup winners can get past Al-Jaish of Syria then they will go to Group D that will be held in their home city of Buraidah. It will make getting out of a tough group a little easier. It contains Al-Duhail of Qatar, Uzbekistan powerhouse Pakhtakor and Sepahan of Iran. Group E sees Al-Faisaly playing in Dammam which is good news for a team that is struggling in the league. Qatari champions Al-Sadd will present a challenge and there is Al-Wehdat of Jordan. They will be joined by the winner of the play-off between Baniyas of the UAE and Uzbekistan’s Nasaf Qarshi. The five groups in the eastern zone will be hosted in Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.