Riyadh, December 23, 2022, SPA – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Competitions Committee decided today to nominate the Saudi Al-Hilal Club, holder of the Asian Championship, to represent Asia in the next edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, which will be held in Morocco, due to the failure to complete the 2022 AFC Champions League competitions before the start of the world championship. The AFC committee also decided that in the wake of the Bahrain Football Association’s apology for hosting the AFC U-17 Junior Championship 2023, to approve a proposal to grant the hosting of 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, hence, the committee decided that the host countries’ teams would not participate in the qualifiers for the continental championships that are held in the assembly system. 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 (version 2021). --SPA 17:21 LOCAL TIME 14:21 GMT 0007 www.spa.gov.sa/w1830417