Opening the door to host the Asian Cup after China's apology .. Who is the alternative?
On Tuesday, the Asian Football Confederation opened the door for its member associations to express their desire to host the 2023 Asian Cup, which China apologized for not hosting due to the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
And the Confederation added in a statement that the deadline for submitting an application for the desire to host the 2023 Asian Cup will be “on June 30, 2022.”
On May 14, the AFC announced China's apology for not hosting the continental championship due to the repercussions of Corona.
The tournament was scheduled to be held in 10 Chinese cities from June 16 to July 16, 2023, with the participation of 24 teams, after China was chosen to host on June 5, 2019 during the extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly in Paris.
The Confederation added that following China's apology for hosting, its General Assembly, during its thirty-second meeting, "granted the authority to the administration in the Asian Football Confederation to set the conditions and requirements for submitting the nomination files, with the aim of finding an alternative to host the tournament."
And he added, "Following the conclusion of the file submission process, the AFC administration will submit a report on its recommendations to the AFC Executive Office, in order to select the new host for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup."
A few days after China's apology, Japan Football Association president Kozo Tashima revealed that his country had been approached for hosting.
The Japanese newspaper, Nikkei Sports, quoted Tashima as saying that the Asian Football Confederation contacted the Japanese Football Association for the possibility of organizing the continental championship, and said in this regard, "We have been approached.
The teams of China (being the former host), Japan, Syria, Qatar, South Korea, Australia, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Vietnam and Lebanon, have qualified for the tournament, in which 24 teams participate, while the third round qualifiers are scheduled to be completed between June 8 and 14, according to the pool system.
Japan holds the record for the number of title wins (4) against Saudi Arabia and Iran (3), while Qatar is the title holder in 2019.
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