The annual Festivals of Football will be held as usual in five cities throughout the continent.

The 2011 Festival will kick off in Doha, Qatar, from February 13 to 26.

The Central Asian Festival will be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from April 4 to 17, while Beijing, China, will host the East Asian Festival from April 15 to 28.

The Festival for Asean will take place in Sabah, Malaysia, from May 24 to June 6, while Yazd City, Iran, will host the South Asian Festival from May 10 to 23.

This year, the South Asia Festival was held in Hamedan City, Iran, which will rotate annually the provinces or cities for hosting the event.

Various activities have been lined up during the Festivals, including matches, ‘C’ Certificate Coaching Course, Head Coaches Workshop, Preparatory Course for Referee Course and S2S Programme.

The Festivals are an important part of AFC’s overall development programme and provides early teens with the chance to compete against their peers at the national level in a friendly atmosphere.

The Festivals are also where the AFC identifies talented coaches and referees for the Project Future programme, where they are given further education.