The Football Association of All India (AIFF) said on Friday that India provided “EOI) to host the AFC Cup for the year 2031, which is the soccer event on the continent. AIFF was one of the seven seven football bodies that presented EOI before the deadline on March 31. Existing football like Australia, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates to obtain the right to host the tournament. Indonesia and Kuwait also presented EOI while there is a joint attempt by Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The host country, which will be chosen in 2026, will get an automatic berth in the tournament. India finished second in the 1964 edition and was eliminated in the group stage in 1984, 2011, 2019 and 2023. The tournament began in 1956.
Among the seven bidding countries, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea and Kuwait hosted the championship earlier.
Chairing the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Confederation of Asian Football in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on the eve of the thirty -fifth conference of the Asian Confederation, President Sheikh Salman praised that “the highest number of Eois he received in modern history and attributed the exceptional reception ceremony to the increasing tour of the Asian crown jewel.” The Asian Federation sent invitations on November 27, 2024, to all member associations to express their interest in hosting the greatest national team for men in Asia. The deadline for the presentation of EOI was March 31, 2025.
Salman said: “It reflects the level of unprecedented interest that we have witnessed all of the high aspirations of members of the AFC member and their increasing and their capabilities in their capabilities to host a championship as the importance of the Asian Asian Cup.”
The AFC will now work with bidding countries to provide the necessary display documents in accordance with the timelines and specific processes. A bid workshop is scheduled to be held later this month.
After that, a comprehensive assessment of the bids will be conducted by the AFC administration before the host of the host selects 24 teams by the AFC Conference in 2026.
India did not host the tournament, equivalent to the World Cup. I made offers to host the 2023 and 2027 versions when Praful Patel was AIFF.
The 2023 version was withdrawn in 2018 and the same thing happened in the case of the 2027 championship as well.
In December 2022, a few months after Calenian Challenie took over as AIFF, India withdrew an attempt to organize the Asian Cup for the year 2027, announcing that hosting large ticket events is not among its “strategic priorities” in this turn.
The AIFF decision left the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to be the only candidate to host the AFC Cup for 2027, the nineteenth edition of the continent’s event.
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