The AFC Futsal & Beach Soccer Committee reinforced its commitment to further elevate the standards of both sports after approving the 2026 to 2028 Competitions Calendar at its third meeting in Pattaya, Thailand on Saturday.

Held on the eve of the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup™ Thailand 2025 Final, the Committee, led by Chairperson Mehdi Taj, congratulated Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Oman and Saudi Arabia on reaching the Semi-finals and praised The Football Association of Thailand – hosts of the AFC’s beach soccer flagship for a third consecutive time – for their exemplary display of Asian unity and exceptional hosting capabilities.

The overarching principles guiding the establishment of the AFC Futsal & Beach Soccer Competitions Calendar 2026-2028 include maximising the use of the international match calendar to benefit player release and welfare, taking into consideration the AFC and MAs’ hosting capacity and resources, and ensuring the best possible promotion of each competition.

Based on these principles, the Committee approved the dates for the next edition of the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup™ to be held in the year preceding the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. The decision was taken to optimise the preparation period for Asian teams and ease the congestion of a packed calendar. 

The approved competition dates are as follows and the Committee also mandated the AFC Administration to adjust the calendar where necessary:

•    AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup™ 2026 Qualifiers – May 23 to 31, 2026
•    AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup™ 2026 Finals – November 18 to 28, 2026
•    AFC Futsal Asian Cup™ 2028 Qualifiers – September 7 to 15, 2027
•    AFC Futsal Asian Cup™ 2028 Finals – January 25 to February 5, 2028 
•    AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup™ 2028 Qualifiers – November 13 to 21, 2027 
•    AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup™ 2028 Finals – June 13 to 24, 2028 
•    AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup™ 2028 Qualifiers – June 3 to 11, 2028
•    AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup™ 2028 Finals – November 1 to 11, 2028

Following the discussion at its last meeting, a comprehensive analysis was carried out and the decision on future AFC futsal competitions was also endorsed by the Committee. The AFC Futsal Asian Cup™ will become a stand-alone competition from the 2030 edition; subsequently, a separate qualification competition will be created for the FIFA Futsal World Cup from 2031. 

At the same time, the committee also discussed the return of the AFC Futsal Club Championship format, and the decision was taken to mandate the Administration to make the final decision, taking into account all the points discussed at the meeting.

The Committee also approved the AFC Futsal Asian Cup™ Indonesia 2026 Regulations and were updated on the successful completion of all the programmes organised since its last meeting in the key areas of Referees, Technical and Development, which included the AFC Futsal Technical Workshops 1 and 2, the AFC Elite Futsal Referees Seminar 2024 and AFC Referees Recruitment 2024 & 2025.

All decisions will need to be ratified by the AFC Executive Committee to take effect.