Kuala Lumpur. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has demanded a letter (EOI) on Tuesday for hosting the Asian Cup to be played in 2023 from all its member associations after China was removed from hosting due to the circumstances emerged from the deadly Kovid-19 virus. AFC has barely taken this step a week before the final qualification round begins for the main tournament.

The third and final qualification phase will be played at different sites from 8 to 14 June to select 11 teams participating in the tournament. India is in Group-D with Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Cambodia and the team has to play at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.

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According to the statement issued from AFC, “After China's decision to withdraw as the Asian Cup hosts, recently, the 32nd Congress of AFC has directed the AFC administration to define the rules required for it, besides immediate starting the bidding process to find a new host for the competition.”

After the conclusion of the bidding process, the AFC administration will submit a report to its executive committee with its recommendations, which will select the new host of the 2023 tournament. The deadline for submitting its EOI for hosting the tournament for interested member associations is 30 June 2022.

The AFC along with this canceled the direct entry of China as hosts. He will have to go through the qualifiers for place in the main phase. This place can now go to the new host country. A total of 24 teams will participate in the Asian Cup finals. Its previous event was held in 2019 in which Qatar became the champion.