With the AFC's announcement that the deadline for applications to host the 2023 Asian Cup has been postponed to July 15, Iran has joined the race to host the tournament, AP sources revealed.
On May 14, the organizing committee of our Asian Cup issued a statement that in view of the impact of the epidemic, the organizing committee was unable to commit to and arrange a fully open tournament for the next Asian Cup. After much consultation, it was decided that the current Asian Cup would be moved to another location. The 2023 Asian Cup, originally scheduled to be held in China from June 16 to July 16, 2023, was affected by the epidemic, and our organizing committee was unable to make a commitment and arrangement for a completely open tournament at that time. After the joint efforts of AFC, CFA and our Organizing Committee for the 2023 Asian Cup, it was finally decided that this Asian Cup soccer tournament will be held off-site.
The Iranian national team is currently ranked 23rd in the FIFA world rankings, the highest in Asia, and the fact that Iran has successfully hosted the 1968 and 1976 Asian Cups certainly adds an extra edge. According to Al Jazeera, the AFC is expected to make a final decision on hosting the 2023 Asian Cup at the end of this year, after the World Cup.
4-5 countries have already expressed interest in hosting the Asian Cup, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea and Australia. The Korean Football Association (KFA) has made it clear that it is interested in hosting the Asian Cup and has solicited expressions of interest from various local governments to host the event. The Australian FA has also indicated that they have shown strong interest in bidding to host the 2023 Asian Cup. It is worth noting that in addition to the Australian FA, the Japanese FA has also recently conducted an internal assessment of whether to apply to host the Asian Cup.
