In the late afternoon of September 30, the AFC revealed through official channels that its Match Committee, at its fifth annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, formally proposed that Qatar will host the sixth U23 Asian Cup in 2024 and the final stage of the Asian qualifiers for the Paris Olympics. Although the final resolution still needs to be approved by the AFC Executive Committee, but according to past practice, Qatar to get the right to host the tournament is almost certain. In the face of West Asia to compete for the Olympic tickets, the 2001 age group of China's national Olympic team is facing challenges and difficulties are self-evident.
The AFC revealed on the 30th that Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and the Qatar Football Association (QFA) have been awarded the bid to host the new U23 Asian Cup after a rigorous application, review and evaluation process. After several rounds of screening, the Match Committee finally decided to recommend Qatar to host the tournament. The proposal will officially become a reality once the AFC Executive Committee gives its final approval.
Although the official announcement of the day, the competition committee did not reveal the specific reasons for recommending Qatar. However, the industry generally believes that, as the host of the final stage of this year's World Cup, Qatar has repeatedly hosted major international soccer events such as the Club World Cup and the first Arab Cup. Last year and this year, Qatar has also assisted in hosting the home matches of the World Preliminary 12 for a number of teams, including China and Australia, and its conditions for hosting matches are world-class. Qatar was able to beat the other four AFC member association countries in the West Asia region thanks to the extensive trust of the tournament organizers and the participating member associations.
The U23 Asian Cup is held every two years and is actually the final stage of the new Olympic qualifiers. Countries compete for the right to host the event, but also for a more favorable home field advantage for their association's national Olympic team. As a result, the teams of the member associations of the East Asia Region, including China's national Olympic team, will have to travel all the way to West Asia to participate in the final stage of the new Olympic qualifying tournament (provided that China's national Olympic team succeeds in advancing to the U23 Asian Cup qualifying tournament). Although Qatar has some of the most advanced venue air-conditioning equipment in the world, elements such as jet lag and refereeing cannot be ignored when competing in West Asia.
Currently, as an age-eligible team for the Paris Olympics, the 2001-age Chinese U21 team is conducting warm-up drills in Eastern Europe. However, judging from its recent failure to reach the final stage of the Asian Youth Championship, the personnel strength of the national youth team of this age group is not ideal. More seriously, due to objective factors, the 1999 age group U23 national football team withdrew from the fifth U23 Asian Cup qualifying tournament, which makes the 2001 age group U23 national football team will face unfavorable grouping signing position when participating in the sixth U23 Asian Cup qualifying tournament, which also undoubtedly makes the team's impact on the Paris Olympics more difficult.
