Recently, the official website of the Korean Football Association announced that it would give up its bid to host the 2023 Asian Cup. At present, China is the only country left to host the 2023 Asian Cup. Therefore, Asia is likely to settle in China in 2023. If the bid is successful, China will host the Asian Cup again after 2004. So what are the 12 cities in China's bid to host the 2023 Asian Cup? Let's take a look at the details of China's bid to host the 2023 Asian Cup.
Korea Football Association: focus on bidding for the women's World Cup
The Asian Cup is held every four years. It is the highest level football event in Asia. The Chinese team has participated for many years. It has reached the finals twice, but both ranked second. It is worth mentioning that the last time the Chinese team reached the finals was in 2004, when China happened to be the host, but in the finals, the Chinese team lost 3-1 to Japan and missed the champion. In 2019, the Asian Cup was expanded to 24 teams, and Qatar beat Japan in the final to reach the top of Asia for the first time. The Asian Cup in 2023 will follow the competition system of 24 teams.
According to the plan, AFC will vote on the bidding countries for the 2023 Asian Cup at the general meeting in early June. Previously, Thailand, Indonesia and India had expressed their desire to host the Asian Cup, but when China and South Korea confirmed that they would participate in the competition, the three countries withdrew their applications. Now, if South Korea announces to give up, China will become the only bid country. The Korean Football Association wrote on its official website: 'the Korean Football Association has informed the Asian Football Association and all participating cities on the 15th that it will withdraw from the bid for the 2023 Asian Cup.' The Secretary General of the Korean Football Association revealed: 'we need to make a choice between the Asian Cup and the women's World Cup. We decided to focus our strategy on the women's World Cup.'
In fact, as early as February 2016, the Chinese Football Association expressed its intention to bid for the 2023 Asian Cup. In addition, according to an unwritten regulation within AFC, the Asian Cup is usually held in West Asia, and the next one will go to East Asia. Since the UAE has hosted this year's event, the next competition will move to East Asia and Central South Asia.
12 cities as candidates for the 2023 Asian Cup
It is worth mentioning that the Chinese Football Association has previously declared 12 cities as candidates for the 2023 Asian Cup, including Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Xi'an, Wuhan, Chengdu, Qingdao, Shenyang, Changsha, Ningbo and Luoyang. Gu Jianming, executive member of China Football Association and chairman of Chengdu Football Association, said in an interview with Chengdu Business Daily Red Star News yesterday afternoon that Chengdu applied for hosting the Asian Cup in 2017 and this is the second time this year.
On April 6, the 29th AFC General Assembly was held in Kuala Lumpur. Du Zhaocai, deputy director of the General Administration of sports and Secretary of the Party committee of the Chinese Football Association, was elected as a director of the FIFA Council until 2023. Du Zhaocai said at that time that the Chinese Football Association hoped to bid for the Asian Cup and the world cup in the future. Du Zhaocai said in an interview with Reuters, "for China, the Asian Cup and the world cup are our dreams. The Chinese Football Association hopes to hold the Asian Cup and the world cup in the future, and we are making plans for this. In China, the local government attaches great importance to the development of football. We are preparing the bidding materials, and then we will submit our application. " Du Zhaocai also said: 'I think I can work with my colleagues to benefit Asian and world football. Football is very popular in China. Chinese people like football very much. I think Chinese football is making progress. "
At that time, South Korea lost the election at the general assembly of the Asian Football Association. After returning to China, Zheng Mengkui, President of the Korean Football Association, still had ideas about bidding for the 2023 Asian Cup and said: "it must be admitted that it is difficult to host two competitions at the same time within a year. Maybe we need to make a choice."