SAFF holds its sixth meeting, and decides to resume football competitions

2020-06-12
02:18:49

The Saudi Arabian Football Federation appreciated the unprecedented and fruitful efforts made by the Saudi government to confront the threat of the spread of the Coronavirus, which confirm our government’s keenness on the health of the citizens, asking God Almighty to lift the pandemic from this homeland.

Since the announcement of stopping football activities on March 14, the SAFF has followed the developments of the general health situation with the competent authorities, with the support and follow-up of the Ministry of Sports, headed by His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, who used all means to provide support to the Football Federation during the pandemic period.

Based on the decision of the Ministry of Sports to allow the return of sports activities, and in view of the specific dates of the Asian Confederation to resume the Asian competitions, as well as setting the date for the resumption of the World Cup 2022 qualifiers.
The Board of Directors of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation has set 4th August as the next date for the return of the football competitions for the 2019-2020 season, as coordination will be with the Saudi Professionals League to determine the dates for the resumption of the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Professionals Cup League, and the Prince Mohammed bin Salman League for the first-class for the season 2019 -2020.

Whereas, coordination will take place with the clubs for the return of training in 29 Shawwal 1441 AH corresponding to June 21, 2020, in preparation for the completion of the sports season according to a medical protocol and strict measures.

The SAFF decided to resume the second-degree competition to determine the champion, ascenders and riders, according to the list of competitions, as well as decided not to complete the third-degree qualifiers for the second-class league with the escalation of the eight competing clubs and increase the second-class clubs for the next sports season from 24 to 28 teams.

The SAFF also announced that, based on what the Competitions Committee submitted regarding youngsters groups competitions, the following was adopted:

1- Canceling the Premier League tournaments for the endless youngsters groups without specifying a champion or relegation.

2- Approving the results and ranking of the tournaments of the ending youngsters groups, confirming the champion, and the rising and descending teams.

3- Canceling the Kingdom championships for the youngsters classes without identifying a champion, and escalating the teams from the round in which the competition was stopped, with the completion of the two postponed matches to determine the finalist.

4- Increasing the age groups clubs (according to the attached table)

The council approved increasing the number of replacements in the match from three to five during the resumption of competitions, according to the new amendments in the Football Law approved by the International Football Association.

In conclusion, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation wishes everyone good health and safety.