FIFA says competitors to go forward “as deliberate” regardless of Abu Dhabi, the host metropolis, focused twice by Houthi missiles in every week.
FIFA says the Membership World Cup 2021, scheduled to happen in Abu Dhabi in February this yr, is scheduled to go forward as deliberate regardless of the escalation in Yemen’s long-running battle that has seen the UAE capital focused by Houthi missiles within the final week.
On Monday, the UAE stated it had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles over Abu Dhabi fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The incident follows a Houthi drone-and-missile attack on Abu Dhabi that killed three civilians final week.
The Membership World Cup, involving regional champions and host nation representatives, is scheduled to happen from February 3 to February 12 at two venues in Abu Dhabi.
The escalation in violence and the dual assaults raised doubts over the event however FIFA, soccer’s world governing physique, advised Al Jazeera that the occasion is deliberate to go forward as scheduled.
“The FIFA Membership World Cup UAE 2021 might be hosted as deliberate,” a FIFA spokesperson stated.
“Relating to safety on the FIFA Membership World Cup UAE 2021, FIFA is constant to observe the scenario and dealing carefully with the Native Organising Committee, and different key stakeholders within the UAE, relating to safety preparations for the event.”
The seven-team occasion will get below approach with host workforce Al Jazira Membership taking up Tahiti’s AS Pirae, alternative for Auckland Metropolis FC which withdrew from the event for the second yr operating as a consequence of COVID rules.
CAF Champions League winners Al Ahly SC, CONCACAF Champions League champions CF Monterrey, winners of the AFC Champions League Al Hilal SFC, Copa Libertadores champions SE Palmeiras and Chelsea, European champions, full the lineup.
A storage facility of oil large ADNOC within the Msaffah industrial district in Abu Dhabi [AFP]Following final week’s assault that focused an oil facility and an under-construction space exterior Abu Dhabi airport, Brazil’s Palmeiras additionally confirmed to Al Jazeera that there are “no deliberate modifications to the membership’s schedule and procedures in Abu Dhabi”.
On Monday, movies on social media confirmed the sky over Abu Dhabi lit up earlier than daybreak, with factors of sunshine trying like interceptor missiles, The Related Press reported.
The UAE defence ministry, quoted by state-run WAM information company, stated “the remnants of the intercepted ballistic missiles fell in separate areas round Abu Dhabi”, including that it “is able to cope with any threats and … takes all essential measures to guard the state”.
Two Indians and a Pakistani working for oil large ADNOC died final week as three petrol tanks exploded close to a storage facility.
The battle in Yemen started in 2014 when the Houthi rebels took over a lot of the nation, together with the capital Sanaa, forcing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee.
Preventing escalated in March 2015 when Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with US backing, assembled a navy coalition in help of Hadi’s authorities that succeeded in pushing the Houthis out of the south.
The flare-up has raised fears of a worsening humanitarian disaster in Yemen the place the scenario is already dire, with greater than 16 million individuals being meals insecure.
Although precise figures are tough to collect, the UN estimates that greater than 377,000 individuals have died because of the battle as of late 2021.
