Beijing time on June 28, a heavy news came: the AFC officially announced that in response to changes in the epidemic, the deadline for the submission of letters of intent to host the 2023 Asian Cup was postponed from the original June 30 to July 15th.
Recall that on May 14, the announcement of our organizing committee pointed out that the impact of the epidemic, the organizing committee of the 2023 Asian Cup of the full open hosting difficult to make a commitment to the Asian Cup, after consultations in many areas, the current Asian Cup will be adjusted to the location.
Originally planned to be held in China from June 16 to July 16, 2023, the Asian Cup, due to the epidemic, the organizing committee of our country faced difficulties in ensuring the full opening of the tournament. With the joint efforts of AFC, CFA and the 2023 Asian Cup China Organizing Committee, it was finally decided that the Asian Cup will be held in a different location.
Currently, 4-5 countries have shown strong interest in hosting the Asian Cup, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as well as Japan, South Korea and Australia. The Korean Football Association (KFA) has formally expressed its desire to host the event and has solicited expressions of interest from local governments. The Australian FA has also expressed enthusiasm for bidding to host the 2023 Asian Cup. An AFA spokesperson revealed, "We are in communication with the AFC and the Australian government, and preparations for the bidding process have begun." In addition, the Japanese Football Association (JFA) is also internally evaluating whether to apply to host the Asian Cup.
At the same time, the AFC put forward seven specific conditions for the bidding countries: the organizers need to provide at least five stadiums with a capacity of more than 20,000 spectators for the group stage, the 1/8 finals and the quarter-finals. Semi-final venues must have a capacity of 40,000 spectators or more. The opening and closing ceremonies (including the opening and final matches) must have a capacity of over 50,000 spectators. For these countries, which have a lot of experience in organizing large-scale tournaments, it is not difficult to meet these conditions.
