RIYADH:

The draw for January’s Asian Cup finals, which was due to be held in Riyadh on April 11, has ‌been postponed, the Asian Football Confederation announced on Thursday.

Officials have rescheduled the event to a later date “to ensure the undisrupted attendance of all stakeholders at the final draw ceremony,” the ⁠governing body said in a statement.

Numerous sporting events in the region have been postponed or cancelled due to the ongoing conflict in the region, which started when the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran almost a month ago.

Saudi Arabia is due to host the 24-team ‌quadrennial ⁠continental championship for the first time with the last remaining round of qualifiers taking place on Tuesday.

Qatar are the defending champions and have already secured ⁠their berth at the finals alongside four-times winners Japan, plus fellow World Cup qualifiers South Korea, Iran, Jordan, ⁠Australia and Uzbekistan.

The AFC announced on Tuesday that the latter stages of the Asian Champions ⁠League Elite would go ahead as planned in Jeddah, with matches running from April 13 to 26.

PSG visit to Lens postponed

Ligue 1 leaders Paris St Germain’s visit to second-placed Lens, set for April 11, has been postponed to May 13 to allow them more ‌time to prepare for their Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool, the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) said on Thursday.

Strasbourg’s visit to Brest, scheduled for April 12, has also been moved to May 13 to help them ⁠prepare for their Europa Conference League last-eight clashes with Mainz, the LFP said in a statement.

“These decisions are in line with the board of directors’ clear strategic aim of enabling France to retain its fifth place in the UEFA coefficient rankings, which secures four places in the UEFA Champions League,” the LFP said in a statement.

PSG, the reigning ‌European ⁠champions, host Liverpool three days before the Lens fixture and travel to Anfield for the second leg on April 14.

PSG and Lens are separated by one point in Ligue 1, with ⁠PSG having a game in hand.

PSG indeed wants to give itself every chance to reach the Champions League semifinals and wanted to present its arguments through the press to justify its postponement request. PSG begins by stating that its approach is “structured and transparent, and in no way constitutes a challenge to the championship.”

Lens had earlier pushed back against PSG’s request.

Lens added that their domestic league risks being “gradually relegated to the status of an adjustment variable at the whim of the European imperatives of some”.

“Beyond this specific case, the question raised is a more fundamental one: that of the respect due to the competition itself,” a club statement said.

“For one is entitled to wonder when, on its own soil, the league sometimes seems to be relegated to second place behind other ambitions, however legitimate they may be.”

A spokesperson for PSG told BBC Sport that “this type of rescheduling has been carried out regularly by the LFP in the past for the benefit of French clubs” and “in no way calls the league into question”.

They added that “the performances of French clubs competing on the European stage benefit French football as whole, with France currently occupying 6th place in the Uefa coefficient rankings for the 2025-26 season.”

Second-placed Lens currently trail leaders PSG by one point – and Lens head coach Pierre Sage said after Sunday’s 5-1 win over Angers that his side did not agree with a postponement.

“It seems to us, in fact, that a worrying sentiment ⁠is taking hold: that of a French league gradually being relegated to the status of an adjustment variable at ⁠the whim of certain parties’ European imperatives,” Lens said in a statement on Monday.