Taiwan’s Taipower FC and Tatung FC are to play for club glory in the East Asia qualifiers for next year’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup, soccer officials said.
Kaohsiung-based Taipower and Taipei-based Tatung qualified for the tournament under new format changes approved by AFC members and executives, as the two clubs last season finished first and second in the nation’s top-tier Intercity League, Chinese Taipei Football Association secretary-general Chen Wei-jen said.
“They will compete under the revamped AFC Cup format,” Chen said.
“It is a historic first for Taiwan’s soccer clubs,” he added.
Taiwanese teams played in the tournament under its previous format, but only after teams from other nations dropped out of the competition, sometimes because of financial issues, he said.
Chen, as an official delegate of the nation’s soccer body, attended an AFC meeting earlier this month at the confederation’s headquarters in Malaysia, where the new formats for Asian national and club championships were discussed and approved.
“Taiwanese sports fans can celebrate that the AFC and major Asian soccer powers have officially recognized the Intercity League as a top-tier circuit. The winners and runners-up of the competition will now be eligible for the cup, one in the preliminary round and one in the group round,” Chen told the Taipei Times.
While the cup ranks second to the AFC Champions League, that Taiwan secured the berths is nevertheless a major breakthrough for the nation’s soccer development and was the result of the collective efforts of Taiwanese fans and players, who bolstered the nation’s rankings in both men’s and women’s soccer over the past few years, he said.
Intercity League runners-up Tatung are to face Ulan Bator’s Erchim FC, this year’s Mongolian National Premier League champions, in a home-and-away series on Jan. 31 and Feb. 7.
The winner of the series will advance to play Kigwancha SC, who finished second in North Korea’s DPR Korea League, on Feb. 21 and Feb. 28.
Both matches against Erchim might be played in Kaohsiung, as winter has Mongolia in its grip, with thick snow and temperatures of minus-20°C making play difficult in the landlocked country, which does not have an indoor soccer stadium, Chen said, citing conversations with Mongolian officials at the AFC meeting.
“We are negotiating with Erchim and AFC representatives, offering terms for both matches to take place in Taiwan,” Chen said. “The games would likely take place at the Kaohsiung National Stadium, as northern Taiwan can be cold and rainy in winter, while the south is mostly dry and warm in January and February.”
“Otherwise, the away match could take place in a third-party country,” he added.
The winner of the series against Kigwancha would advance to East Asia Group I, in which Intercity League champions Taipower, Guam’s Rovers FC and North Korea’s April 25 SC are also to compete.
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