2023 AFC Asian Cup
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | TBD |
| Dates | 16 June – 16 July[1] |
| Teams | 24 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 10 (in 10 host cities) |
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 be held from 16 June to 16 July 2023.[1] The tournament will involve 24 national teams after its expansion of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, including that of the host nation.[2] Qatar are the defending champions.
The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in China. However, on 14 May 2022, the AFC announced that China would not be able to host the tournament due to the circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]
Host selection
The winning bid was announced on 4 June 2019, on the eve of the 69th FIFA Congress in Paris, France.[4]
Qualification
The first two rounds of qualification also served as the Asian qualification for the World Cup. Qatar participated in the second round only for qualification to the 2023 Asian Cup,[5] as they qualified automatically for the World Cup as host nation. China participated in the second round only for qualification to the 2022 World Cup, as they had initially qualified automatically for the Asian Cup as host nation.[a]
Timor-Leste were barred from participating in the qualification tournament after being found to have fielded a total of twelve ineligible players in 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification matches, among other competitions.[6] 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.[7]
Qualifying began on 6 June 2019 for 23 spots joining the host nation China.[a] The tournament will take place in June and July 2023, moved from the typical January/February scheduling of the AFC Asian Cup due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which will take place in November and December 2022. North Korea withdrew from the qualifying round due to safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Japan became the first team to qualify, by defeating Myanmar 10–0.
Qualified teams
| Team | Method of qualification |
Date of qualification |
Finals appearances |
Last appearance |
Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 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) |
 Qatar |
Second Round Group E winners | 7 June 2021 | 11th | 2019 | Winners (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) |
Notes
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ a b As
South Vietnam
See also
References
- ^ a b "AFC Asian Cup China 2023 competition dates confirmed". Asian Football Confederation. 7 January 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
- ^ "AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Competition Regulations". AFC.
- ^ "Important update on AFC Asian Cup 2023™ hosts". Asian Football Confederation. 14 May 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ^ "China confirmed as 2023 Asian Cup hosts – AFC". Eurosport. 4 June 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
- ^ Palmer, Dan (31 July 2017). "Hosts Qatar to compete in qualifying for 2022 World Cup". insidethegames.biz. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
- ^ "Federacao Futebol Timor-Leste expelled from AFC Asian Cup 2023". The-AFC.com. 20 January 2017.
- ^ "Road to Qatar 2022: Asian teams discover Round 1 opponents". Asian Football Confederation. 17 April 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
External links
- AFC Asian Cup, the-AFC.com