2023 AFC Asian Cup

The 2023 AFC Asian Cup will be the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It will involve 24 national teams after expansion in 2019, with Qatar as the defending champions.^[2][3]

2023 AFC Asian Cup

كأس آسيا 2023
Tournament details
Host country	Qatar
Dates	12 January — 10 February 2024^[1]
Teams	24 (from 1 confederation)
← 2019 2027 →

The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in China from 16 June to 16 July 2023.^[4] On 14 May 2022, the AFC announced that China would not host the tournament due to the circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and China's Zero-COVID policy.^[5]

On 17 October, the AFC announced that the tournament will be held in Qatar.^[6] Qatar will become the first country to host three Asian Cups, after 1988 and 2011.^[7] Due to the high summer temperatures in the Gulf region and Qatar's participation in the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the tournament will be postponed to 12 January — 10 February 2024.^[8][9]

Host selection

Main article: 2023 AFC Asian Cup bids

China was announced as the winning bid on 4 June 2019, on the eve of the 69th FIFA Congress in Paris, France.^[10] However, due to China's relinquishment of its hosting rights,^[11][12] the AFC conducted a second round of bidding, with a deadline for submissions scheduled on 17 October 2022.^[13]

Four nations had submitted bids: Australia, Indonesia, Qatar and South Korea,^[14] but Australia subsequently withdrew in September 2022^[15] and Indonesia on 15 October.^[16] On 17 October, the AFC announced that Qatar won the bid and will host the tournament.^[6]

Teams

Main article: 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification

 

  Qualified for Asian Cup

  Failed to qualify

  Disqualified or withdrew

  Not an AFC member

The first two rounds of qualification also served as the Asian qualification for the World Cup. Qatar participated only in the second round solely for qualification for the 2023 Asian Cup.^[17] They had qualified automatically for the World Cup as host nation. China too participated only in the second round. They had initially qualified automatically for the Asian Cup as host nation.^[a]

Timor-Leste were barred from participating in the qualification tournament. The team was found to have fielded a total of twelve ineligible players in 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification matches, among other competitions.^[18] However, as FIFA did not bar them from the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Timor-Leste were still allowed to enter the competition, but were ineligible to qualify for the Asian Cup.^[19]

Qualifying began on 6 June 2019 for 23 spots joining the then-chosen host nation China.^[a] North Korea withdrew from the qualifying round due to safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[20]

Qualified teams

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearances	Last appearance	Previous best performance
Qatar	Second round Group E winners	7 June 2021	11th	2019	Winners (2019)
Japan	Second round Group F winners	28 May 2021	10th	2019	Winners (1992, 2000, 2004, 2011)
Syria	Second round Group A winners	7 June 2021	7th	2019	Group stage (1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2011, 2019)
South Korea	Second round Group H winners	9 June 2021	15th	2019	Winners (1956, 1960)
Australia	Second round Group B winners	11 June 2021	5th	2019	Winners (2015)
Iran	Second round Group C winners	15 June 2021	15th	2019	Winners (1968, 1972, 1976)
Saudi Arabia	Second round Group D winners	15 June 2021	11th	2019	Winners (1984, 1988, 1996)
United Arab Emirates	Second round Group G winners	15 June 2021	11th	2019	Runners-up (1996)
China	Second round Group A runners-up	15 June 2021	13th	2019	Runners-up (1984, 2004)
Iraq	Second round Group C runners-up	15 June 2021	10th	2019	Winners (2007)
Oman	Second round Group E runners-up	15 June 2021	5th	2019	Round of 16 (2019)
Vietnam	Second round Group G runners-up	15 June 2021	5th	2019	Fourth place (1956^[b], 1960^[b])
Lebanon	Second round Group H runners-up	15 June 2021	3rd	2019	Group stage (2000, 2019)
Palestine	Third round Group B winners	14 June 2022	3rd	2019	Group stage (2015, 2019)
Uzbekistan	Third round Group C winners	14 June 2022	8th	2019	Fourth place (2011)
Thailand	Third round Group C runners-up	14 June 2022	8th	2019	Third place (1972)
India	Third round Group D winners	14 June 2022	5th	2019	Runners-up (1964)
Hong Kong	Third round Group D runners-up	14 June 2022	4th	1968	Third place (1956)
Tajikistan	Third round Group F winners	14 June 2022	1st	Debut	None
Kyrgyzstan	Third round Group F runners-up	14 June 2022	2nd	2019	Round of 16 (2019)
Bahrain	Third round Group E winners	14 June 2022	7th	2019	Fourth place (2004)
Malaysia	Third round Group E runners-up	14 June 2022	4th	2007	Group stage (1976, 1980, 2007)
Jordan	Third round Group A winners	14 June 2022	5th	2019	Quarter-finals (2004, 2011)
Indonesia	Third round Group A runners-up	14 June 2022	5th	2007	Group stage (1996, 2000, 2004, 2007)

Draw

The Final Draw for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup will be held on Thursday, 11 May 2023 at the Katara Opera House in Doha, Qatar.

From the December 2022 FIFA World Rankings^[21]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Qatar (60) (hosts)   Japan (20)   Iran (24)   South Korea (25)   Australia (27)   Saudi Arabia (51)	Iraq (67)   United Arab Emirates (72)   Oman (74)   China (80)   Syria (91)   Vietnam (96)	Lebanon (101)   Uzbekistan (77)   Jordan (84)   Bahrain (85)   Palestine (93)   Kyrgyzstan (94)	India (106)   Tajikistan (109)   Thailand (111)   Malaysia (142)   Hong Kong (146)   Indonesia (151)

Venues

Five host cities were submitted in the 2023 bid, including seven stadiums prepared for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The Lusail Stadium was proposed to host the final and a semi-final, with the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor to host the other semi-final. However, the official stadiums for the tournament have not been announced yet.^{[citation needed]}

City	Stadium	Capacity	Ref.
Lusail	Lusail Stadium	88,966	^[22]
Al Khor	Al Bayt Stadium	68,895	^[23]
Al Rayyan	Khalifa International Stadium	45,857	^[24]
	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium	45,032	^[25]
	Education City Stadium	44,667	^[26]
Doha	Al Thumama Stadium	44,400	^[27]
	Qatar University Stadium	20,600
Al Wakrah	Al Janoub Stadium	44,325	^[28]

Group stage

All times are local, AST (UTC+3).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Qatar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Knockout stage
2	A2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	A3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Possible Knockout stage
4	A4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played on 12 January 2024. Source:^{[citation needed]}

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	B1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Knockout stage
2	B2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	B3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Possible Knockout stage
4	B4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played on TBD. Source:^{[citation needed]}

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	C1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Knockout stage
2	C2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	C3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Possible Knockout stage
4	C4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played on TBD. Source:^{[citation needed]}

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	D1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Knockout stage
2	D2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	D3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Possible Knockout stage
4	D4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played on TBD. Source:^{[citation needed]}

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	E1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Knockout stage
2	E2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	E3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Possible Knockout stage
4	E4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played on TBD. Source:^{[citation needed]}

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	F1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Knockout stage
2	F2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	F3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Possible Knockout stage
4	F4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played on TBD. Source:^{[citation needed]}

Ranking of third-placed teams

The four best third-placed teams from the six groups advance to the knockout stage along with the six group winners and six runners-up.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	A	Third place Group A	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Knockout stage
2	B	Third place Group B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	C	Third place Group C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	D	Third place Group D	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	E	Third place Group E	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	F	Third place Group F	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played on TBD. Source:^{[citation needed]}

Notes

1. China were initially due to host the competition; however, due to the circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, they would not be able to host the tournament.
2. As   South Vietnam

See also

• 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup
• 2022 AFC Futsal Asian Cup
• 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup
• 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup
• 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup

References

1. https://www.instagram.com/p/CpPgBIttKsy/?igshid=NDk5N2NlZjQ^{[dead link]}
2. "Competition Regulations" (PDF). Retrieved 8 December 2022.
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11. "China withdraw as AFC Asian Cup 2023 hosts". ESPN. 14 May 2022. from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
12. "AFC Seeks New Host for 2023 Asian Cup After China's Withdrawal". 31 May 2022. from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
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14. "Four Expressions of Interest received to host AFC Asian Cup 2023". Asian Football Confederation. 18 July 2022. from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
15. "AFC Asian Cup 2023 hosting rights bid update". 2 September 2022.
16. Skor.id (15 October 2022). Budiman, Aditya (ed.). "Dua Kandidat Tuan Rumah Piala Asia 2023, Indonesia Tersingkir". Tempo.co (in Indonesian). from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
17. Palmer, Dan (31 July 2017). "Hosts Qatar to compete in qualifying for 2022 World Cup". inside the games. from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
18. "Federacao Futebol Timor-Leste expelled from AFC Asian Cup 2023". AFC. Asian Football Confederation. 20 January 2017. from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
19. "Road to Qatar 2022: Asian teams discover Round 1 opponents". Asian Football Confederation. 17 April 2019. from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
20. "North Korea's results voided after World Cup withdrawal". Reuters. 28 May 2021. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
21. "FIFA World Rankings". FIFA. 22 December 2022.
22. "Lusail Stadium". FIFA. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
23. "Al Bayt Stadium". FIFA. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
24. "Khalifa International Stadium". FIFA. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
25. "Ahmad bin Ali Stadium". FIFA. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
26. "Education City Stadium". FIFA. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
27. "Al Thumama Stadium". FIFA. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
28. "Al Janoub Stadium". FIFA. Retrieved 18 November 2022.

External links

• AFC Asian Cup, the-AFC.com