India has submitted ‘Expression of Interest (EoI)’ to host the 2031 AFC Asian Cup, the continent’s showpiece soccer occasion, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) mentioned on Friday. The AIFF was one of many seven nationwide soccer our bodies which submitted the EoI earlier than the deadline of March 31. “Yes, now we have submitted the EoI to host the 2031 AFC Asian Cup. Let us see the way it goes,” AIFF’s deputy secretary basic M Satyanarayan instructed PTI. India will face robust competitors from established soccer powerhouses equivalent to Australia, South Korea and United Arab Emirates to get the correct to host the match. Indonesia and Kuwait have additionally submitted the EoI whereas there’s a joint bid of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The host nation, which shall be picked in 2026, will get automated berth within the match. India completed runners-up within the 1964 version and have been eradicated within the group stage in 1984, 2011, 2019 and 2023. The match started in 1956.
Out of the seven bidding international locations, Australia, UAE, South Korea and Kuwait have earlier hosted the match.
Chairing the Asian Football Confederation’s Executive Committee assembly in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on the eve of the thirty fifth AFC Congress, president Shaikh Salman lauded “the very best ever variety of EoIs obtained in fashionable historical past and attributed the distinctive reception to the rising status of Asia’s crown jewel.” The AFC had despatched out invites on November 27, 2024, for all member associations to precise their curiosity in internet hosting Asia’s most prestigious males’s nationwide staff match. The deadline to submit the EoI was March 31, 2025.
“The unprecedented stage of curiosity now we have witnessed displays each the excessive ambitions of the AFC’s Member Associations and their rising confidence in their very own capacities and capabilities to host a match as vital because the AFC Asian Cup,” Salman mentioned.
The AFC will now work with the bidding international locations on the supply of the required bid documentation in accordance with the established timelines and processes. A bidding workshop is scheduled to be held later this month.
Thereafter, an total analysis of the bids shall be undertaken by the AFC administration previous to the choice of the host for the 24-team competitors by the AFC Congress in 2026.
India has by no means hosted the match, the continent’s equal of World Cup. It had submitted bids to host the 2023 and 2027 editions when Praful Patel was the AIFF president.
The bid for the 2023 version was withdrawn in 2018 and the identical occurred in case of the 2027 match additionally.
In December 2022, a number of months after incumbent Kalyan Chaubey took cost as AIFF president, India withdrew its bid to stage the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, declaring that internet hosting big-ticket occasions just isn’t amongst its “strategic priorities” at that juncture.
The AIFF’s resolution had left Saudi Arabia to be the lone candidate to host the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, the nineteenth version of the continent’s showpiece occasion.
