By Samindra Kunti
July 1 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has announced that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, India, Iran and Uzbekistan have all expressed an interest in staging the 2027 Asian Cup, the continent’s premium national team competition.
The AFC’s member associations were given until June 30 to submit expressions of interest to host the 2027 Asian Cup and a diverse field of countries has emerged to kickstart the bidding race, with geopolitical undertones never far away as both Saudi Arabia and Qatar go head-to-head for the hosting rights.
“The AFC will now work with each Bidding Member Association on the delivery of the necessary bidding documentation in accordance with the bidding process and will announce the host for the 19th edition of the AFC Asian Cup in 2021,” said the AFC.
Last December, the AFC had opened the bidding process for the 2027 continental finals with the intention of appointing a host nation as soon as possible to allow for enough preparation time. At the time, AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa emphasised that host countries should be given more time to organise and where necessary build infrastructure.
In 2019, the UAE organised the biggest Asian Cup yet with 24 participants and in his statement Sheikh Salman highlighted the recent growth of the quadrennial tournament, saying: “The AFC Asian Cup is the pinnacle stage for Asia’s finest and the record breaking and biggest-ever edition in the United Arab Emirates in 2019 laid the foundations for Asian football to strengthen this legacy and we have no doubts that China PR will not only match but also surpass all our expectations in 2023.”
As far back as last June, AIFF president and FIFA executive committee member Praful Patel told Insideworldfootball that India had the ambition to stage the finals. The Indians will organise the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup and gained tournament credentials in 2017 by staging the U-17 FIFA World Cup.
Last February, Saudi Arabia expressed its intention to enter the race, with the backing of the kingdom’s powerful General Sports Authority. In its dossier, the Saudi FA (SAFF) highlighted the international sporting events that the country has recently hosted, including Formula E races, European Tour golf tournaments and boxing’s world heavyweight title rematch between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr.
Internationally, those events have come under criticism with the kingdom accused of ‘sportswashing’ to cover its poor human rights record, restrictive regulation concerning women and their role in society and sports, and the accusations of housing the beoutQ piracy operation that has been stealing the IP of sports events worldwide on an industrial scale.
The Saudis have never hosted the Asian Cup. Neighbours Qatar (who won the tournament in the UAE in 2019) staged the finals in 1988 and 2011. With eight new stadia either built or being completed for the 2022 World Cup, Qatar would not need to build new infrastructure. On May 1, Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani officially announced Qatar’s bidding intentions, writing that “Qatar possesses the plans, the will and the experience to attract and host more international and continental championships.”
The Qatar bid suggests that there is no imminent thawing of relations in their feud with Saudi Arabia who are leading a blockade against the country, accusing them of supporting terrorism. Earlier this year, the Gulf rivals both expressed their desire to stage the 2030 Asian Games.
AFC’s 30-member executive committee will award the hosting rights for the 2027 tournament next year. With China, hosting the next finals in 2023, AFC’s West region would normally be expected to be in pole position to host the finals if the tradition of switching between east and west is continued. However, the bids from Uzbekistan and India would bring a slight kink to that geographical tradition.
Iran are probably outsiders for the hosting rights, but have a strong tradition of performing well at the Asian Cup and have hosted the competition in both 1968 and 1976. However, the country would likely need a major overhaul of facilities and infrastructure to meet modern tournament requirements.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1727508734labto1727508734ofdlr1727508734owedi1727508734sni@o1727508734fni1727508734
