Matheus Moresche of Geylang International and Naqiuddin Eunos of Lions City Sailors during their league encounter, 11 April 2021
SINGAPORE, 7 JULY 2021 – There will be no continental competition action for the Lion City Sailors and Geylang International this season after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) confirmed earlier today the cancellation of the AFC Cup 2021 ASEAN Zone.
The two AIA Singapore Premier League (SPL) clubs had been slated to participate in the tournament as Singapore’s representatives this year, with the Sailors in Group H and Geylang in Group I. Singapore had also been chosen as the centralised venue for matches in both groups, but were forced to withdraw in late May as the fluid COVID-19 situation regionally made the inbound travel challenging for the overseas participating teams.
In a statement to participating Member Associations with representative clubs in the AFC Cup 2021 ASEAN Zone – namely Groups G, H and I – and the Playoffs (ASEAN), AFC noted that they had made “utmost efforts over recent months” for the aforementioned matches to take place.
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The AFC added: “Regrettably, however, due to the lack of hosts (including neutral venues within and even outside the concerned Zone) for these Groups and Playoffs matches, it has been decided that matches in the above Groups and Playoffs shall be cancelled.”
It is further noted by the AFC that the Knockout Stage Central, West and Inter Zone single-leg ties will continue to be staged as planned.
The Sailors and Geylang will now look forward to resuming their SPL campaign later this month; fixtures are available at spl.tth.asia/fixtures.