After China's withdrawal, AFC seeks new host for 2023 Asian Cup

This comes barely a week before the start of final qualification round for the main tournament.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: India, in Group D with Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Cambodia, will play at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.

The Asian Football Confederation on Tuesday issued an Expression of Interest (EoI) invitation to all of its member associations to host the 2023 Asian Cup after China withdrew as host owing to the circumstances arising out of the COVID-19 situation there.

This comes barely a week before the start of final qualification round for the main tournament. The third and final qualification rounds to select 11 teams for the tournament-proper are set to be played from June 8-14 across various venues.

India is in Group D with Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Cambodia and will play at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.

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"Following China's decision to withdraw as hosts of the Asian Cup, the recent 32nd AFC Congress had provided the mandate to the AFC Administration to define the terms and requirements of an expedited bidding process to find a replacement host for the competition," the continental football body said.

Following the conclusion of the bidding process, the AFC Administration will submit a report with its recommendations to its Executive Committee, which will then select the new host of the 2023 tournament.

The deadline for interested member associations to submit their EoI to host the tournament is June 30, 2022.

The AFC also has to decide the direct entry spot that was given to China before it withdrew as host. The position may go to the new host in case it fails to make it to the qualifiers.

In all, 24 teams will participate in the finals of the Asian Cup. Qatar is the defending champion, having won the event in 2019.