Kuala Lumpur. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Tuesday sought expressions of interest (EOI) from all its member associations to host the 2023 Asian Cup after China withdrew from hosting due to the circumstances arising from the deadly Covid-19 virus. The AFC has taken this step barely a week before the final qualification round for the main tournament begins.
The third and final qualification round will be played at different venues from June 8 to 14 to select the 11 teams participating in the tournament. India is in Group D along with Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Cambodia and the team will play its matches at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.
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According to a statement issued by AFC, ‘Following China’s decision to withdraw as the host of the Asian Cup, the recently held 32nd AFC Congress directed the AFC Administration to immediately start the bidding process to find a new host for the competition, besides defining the necessary rules for it.’
Following the conclusion of the bidding process, the AFC administration will submit a report with its recommendations to its Executive Committee, which will select the new host of the 2023 tournament. The deadline for interested member associations to submit their EOIs to host the tournament is June 30, 2022.
The AFC also revoked China’s direct entry as host. It will have to go through a round of qualifiers to get a place in the main round. This place can now go to the new host country. A total of 24 teams will participate in the Asian Cup finals. Its last edition was held in 2019 in which Qatar became the champion.
Tags: Sports news
FIRST PUBLISHED : May 31, 2022, 18:55 IST