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.[1][2]

2023 AFC Asian Cup
كأس آسيا 2023
Tournament details
Host countryQatar
DatesTBD
Teams24 (from 1 confederation)

The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in China from 16 June to 16 July 2023.[3] 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.[4]

On 17 October, the AFC announced that the tournament will be held in Qatar.[5] Qatar will become the first country to host three Asian Cups, after 1988 and 2011.[6] Due to the high summer temperatures in the Gulf region and Qatar's participation in the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the tournament will probably be postponed from mid-2023 to early 2024.[7][8]

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.[9] However, due to China's relinquishment of its hosting rights,[10][11] the AFC conducted a second round of bidding, with a deadline for submissions scheduled on 17 October 2022.[12]

Four nations had submitted bids: Australia, Indonesia, Qatar and South Korea,[13] but Australia subsequently withdrew in September 2022[14] and Indonesia on 15 October.[15] On 17 October, the AFC announced that Qatar won the bid and will host the tournament.[5]

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.[16] 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.[lower-alpha 1]

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.[17] 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.[18]

Qualifying began on 6 June 2019 for 23 spots joining the then-chosen host nation China.[lower-alpha 1] North Korea withdrew from the qualifying round due to safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.[19]

Qualified teams
Team Method of
qualification		 Date of
qualification		 Finals
appearances		 Last
appearance		 Previous best
performance
 QatarSecond round group E winners7 June 202111th2019Winners (2019)
 JapanSecond round group F winners28 May 202110th2019Winners (1992, 2000, 2004, 2011)
 SyriaSecond round group A winners7 June 20217th2019Group stage (1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2011, 2019)
 South KoreaSecond round group H winners9 June 202115th2019Winners (1956, 1960)
 AustraliaSecond round group B winners11 June 20215th2019Winners (2015)
 IranSecond round group C winners15 June 202115th2019Winners (1968, 1972, 1976)
 Saudi ArabiaSecond round group D winners15 June 202111th2019Winners (1984, 1988, 1996)
 United Arab EmiratesSecond round group G winners15 June 202111th2019Runners-up (1996)
 ChinaSecond round group A runners-up15 June 202113th2019Runners-up (1984, 2004)
 IraqSecond round group C runners-up15 June 202110th2019Winners (2007)
 OmanSecond round group E runners-up15 June 20215th2019Round of 16 (2019)
 VietnamSecond round group G runners-up15 June 20215th2019Fourth place (1956[lower-alpha 2], 1960[lower-alpha 2])
 LebanonSecond round group H runners-up15 June 20213rd2019Group stage (2000, 2019)
 PalestineThird Round Group B winners14 June 20223rd2019Group stage (2015, 2019)
 UzbekistanThird Round Group C winners14 June 20228th2019Fourth place (2011)
 ThailandThird Round Group C runners-up14 June 20228th2019Third place (1972)
 IndiaThird Round Group D winners14 June 20225th2019Runners-up (1964)
 Hong KongThird Round Group D runners-up14 June 20224th1968Third place (1956)
 TajikistanThird Round Group F winners14 June 20221stDebutNone
 KyrgyzstanThird Round Group F runners-up14 June 20222nd2019Round of 16 (2019)
 BahrainThird Round Group E winners14 June 20227th2019Fourth place (2004)
 MalaysiaThird Round Group E runners-up14 June 20224th2007Group stage (1976, 1980, 2007)
 JordanThird Round Group A winners14 June 20225th2019Quarter-finals (2004, 2011)
 IndonesiaThird Round Group A runners-up14 June 20225th2007Group stage (1996, 2000, 2004, 2007)

Draw
From the December 2022 FIFA World Rankings[20]
Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4

 Qatar (60) (hosts)
 Japan (20)
 Iran (24)
 South Korea (25)
 Australia (27)
 Saudi Arabia (49)

 Iraq (68)
 United Arab Emirates (70)
 Oman (75)
 China (80)
 Syria (90)
 Vietnam (96)

 Lebanon (100)
 Uzbekistan (77)
 Jordan (84)
 Bahrain (85)
 Palestine (93)
 Kyrgyzstan (94)

 India (106)
 Tajikistan (108)
 Thailand (111)
 Malaysia (145)
 Hong Kong (146)
 Indonesia (151)

Venues

Five host cities were submitted in the 2027 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.

City Stadium Capacity Ref.
Lusail Lusail Stadium 88,966 [21]
Al Khor Al Bayt Stadium 68,895 [22]
Al Rayyan Khalifa International Stadium 45,857 [23]
Ahmad bin Ali Stadium 45,032 [24]
Education City Stadium 44,667 [25]
Doha Al Thumama Stadium 44,400 [26]
Thani bin Jassim Stadium 21,175
Qatar University Stadium 20,600
Al Wakrah Al Janoub Stadium 44,325 [27]

Group stage

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

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Qatar (H) 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 TBD. Source:
(H) Host

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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

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

    References
    1. "Competition Regulations" (PDF). Retrieved 8 December 2022.
    2. "Qatar stuns Japan to win Asian Cup". 2 February 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
    3. "AFC Asian Cup China 2023 competition dates confirmed". Asian Football Confederation. 7 January 2021. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
    4. "Important update on AFC Asian Cup 2023 hosts". Asian Football Confederation. 14 May 2022. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
    5. "Qatar to host AFC Asian Cup 2023; India and Saudi Arabia shortlisted for 2027 edition". Asian Football Confederation. 17 October 2022. Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
    6. "Hosting the AFC Asian Cup in Qatar strengthens the perfect investment of the 2022 World Cup". 23 August 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
    7. "Qatar to stage 2023 Asian Cup, most likely in early 2024". 17 October 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
    8. "Qatar Wins 2023 Asian Cup Bid Just Over A Decade After It Last Hosted The Tournament". 17 October 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
    9. "China confirmed as 2023 Asian Cup hosts – AFC". Eurosport. 4 June 2019. Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
    10. "China withdraw as AFC Asian Cup 2023 hosts". ESPN. 14 May 2022. Archived from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
    11. "AFC Seeks New Host for 2023 Asian Cup After China's Withdrawal". 31 May 2022. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
    12. "AFC extends AFC Asian Cup 2023 EoI deadline to July 15, 2022". Asian Football Confederation. 28 June 2022. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
    13. "Four Expressions of Interest received to host AFC Asian Cup 2023". Asian Football Confederation. 18 July 2022. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
    14. "AFC Asian Cup 2023 hosting rights bid update". 2 September 2022.
    15. Skor.id (15 October 2022). Budiman, Aditya (ed.). "Dua Kandidat Tuan Rumah Piala Asia 2023, Indonesia Tersingkir". Tempo.co (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
    16. Palmer, Dan (31 July 2017). "Hosts Qatar to compete in qualifying for 2022 World Cup". inside the games. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
    17. "Federacao Futebol Timor-Leste expelled from AFC Asian Cup 2023". AFC. Asian Football Confederation. 20 January 2017. Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
    18. "Road to Qatar 2022: Asian teams discover Round 1 opponents". Asian Football Confederation. 17 April 2019. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
    19. "North Korea's results voided after World Cup withdrawal". Reuters. 28 May 2021. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
    20. "FIFA World Rankings". FIFA. 22 December 2022.
    21. "Lusail Stadium". FIFA. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
    22. "Al Bayt Stadium". FIFA. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
    23. "Khalifa International Stadium". FIFA. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
    24. "Ahmad bin Ali Stadium". FIFA. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
    25. "Education City Stadium". FIFA. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
    26. "Al Thumama Stadium". FIFA. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
    27. "Al Janoub Stadium". FIFA. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
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