Qatar is among 4 countries interested in hosting the 2023 Asian Cup finals
Qatar, crowned with the title of the last edition in 2019, expressed its desire to host the 2023 Asian Cup finals, which was supposed to be held in China, but apologized for not hosting it due to the repercussions of the Corona virus, according to the Asian Football Confederation announced on Monday.
The Confederation revealed on its official website that four national federations have expressed their desire to host the 2023 Asian Cup: Qatar, South Korea, Australia and Indonesia.
"Following the invitation by the AFC on May 31, 2022, to all member associations to express their interest in hosting the most important men's national team tournament (in Asia), the following AFC members responded by the deadline that has been extended to 15," he said in a statement. July 2022, and expressed its interest in submitting its candidacy to host the tournament: the Australian Football Association, the Indonesian Football Association, the Korean Football Association, and the Qatar Football Association.
He continued, "According to the process of submitting candidacy files, the candidacy laws were distributed to the member associations of the AFC on June 17, 2022, and the deadline for submitting candidacy files was set on August 31, 2022."
The tournament was scheduled to be held in 10 Chinese cities, with the participation of 24 teams, from June 16 to July 16, 2023, but it apologized in mid-May for not hosting it due to the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Asian Football Confederation has opened the door for its member national federations to express their desire to host the tournament, which is held every four years, noting that interested countries must submit their nominations by June 30 before extending the deadline until the middle of this month.
"A comprehensive evaluation of the candidacy files will be conducted by the AFC administration before the selection and announcement of the host for the 24-team competition by the AFC Executive Committee on October 17, 2022," the Confederation said in its statement on Monday.
Qatar, which awaits the biggest challenge at the end of this year with its hosting of the first World Cup finals in the Middle East, hosted the Asian Cup in 1988 (Saudi Arabia won the title at the expense of South Korea) and 2011 (Japan won at the expense of Australia).
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