The 2023 AFC Asian Cup will be the 18th edition of the

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

(AFC). It will involve 24 national teams after expansion in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, with

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

as the defending champions. The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in China from 16 June to 16 July 2023. On 14 May 2022, the AFC announced that China would not host the tournament due to the circumstances caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

and China's Zero-COVID policy. On 17 October, the AFC announced that the tournament will be held in Qatar. Qatar will become the first country to host three Asian Cups, after 1988 and 2011. Due to the high summer temperatures in the

Gulf region The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bo ...

, the tournament will probably be postponed from mid-2023 to early 2024.

Host selection

China was announced as the winning bid on 4 June 2019, on the eve of the

69th FIFA Congress The 69th FIFA Congress was held in Paris expo Porte de Versailles in Paris, France, on 5 June 2019. 2019 presidential election On 13 June 2018, during the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow, incumbent FIFA President Gianni Infantino Giovanni Vincen ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, France. However, due to China's relinquishment of its hosting rights, the AFC conducted a second round of bidding, with a deadline for submissions scheduled on 17 October 2022. Four nations had submitted bids: Australia, Indonesia, Qatar and South Korea, but Australia subsequently withdrew in September 2022 and Indonesia on 15 October. On 17 October, the AFC announced that Qatar won the bid and will host the tournament.

Teams

The first two rounds of qualification also served as the Asian qualification for the World Cup.

participated only in the second round solely for qualification for the 2023 Asian Cup. 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.

Timor-Leste East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-wes ...

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. 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. Qualifying began on 6 June 2019 for 23 spots joining the then-chosen host nation China.

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...

withdrew from the qualifying round due to safety concerns related to the

Qualified teams

Draw

Group stage

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

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

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.

Notes

References

External links

* , the-AFC.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Afc Asian Cup 2023 2023 2023 in Asian football 2022–23 in Qatari football 2023 June 2023 sports events in Asia July 2023 sports events in Asia Sports events affected by the COVID-19 pandemic Scheduled association football competitions Events in 2023