Asian Cup 2023 postponed to January 2024

The decision was made after meetings between AFC and FIFA. The final match will take place on February 10, corresponding to the first day of the Lunar New Year in Vietnam. However, the above schedule is not included in FIFA Days, so AFC expects FIFA to have a suitable arrangement for the teams with the strongest forces to compete.

Initially, China hosted the 2023 Asian Cup from June 16 to July 16, 2023, but in 2022, it withdrew due to the influence of Covid-19. Qatar - the host country of the World Cup 2022 - was selected after winning the race with South Korea and Australia. Due to the particularly hot weather, tournaments in the West Asian country must be held in the winter between November this year and February next year.

After closing the organization time, AFC will hold the draw at the latest in June 2023. 24 teams were determined to be divided into six round-robin groups, selecting the six best teams, six second-place teams and four best third-place teams to advance to the 1/8 round.

The first and second seed groups are fixed, consisting of 12 teams that qualified for the third round of the 2022 World Cup and remain unchanged, even if the FIFA order is lower than the teams in the other two groups. The two seed groups include hosts Qatar, Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, UAE, Oman, Vietnam, China and Syria.

Meanwhile, the third and fourth seed groups including the remaining 12 teams will have a change based on the FIFA rankings announced before the draw. According to the February 2023 rankings, the third group includes Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Bahrain, Palestine and Kyrgyzstan. Group four includes India, Tajikistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia.

The previous Asian Cup was also held in West Asia hosted by the UAE in January. The Vietnamese team reached the quarterfinals before losing 0-1 to Japan. Qatar is the defending Asian Cup champion, and this is also their third time hosting the tournament after 1988 and 2011.