After sending an invitation to all Member Associations to express their interest in hosting the AFC Asian Cup 2027 by June 30, 2020, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) confirmed that five Member Associations expressed interest.

The five Member Associations in the running to host the 2027 Asian Cup are the All India Football Federation, Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran, Qatar Football Association, Saudi Arabian Football Federation and Uzbekistan Football Association, the AFC announced on Wednesday.

“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,” AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said.

“On behalf of the Asian football family, I would like to thank all our Member Associations for stepping forward to express their desire and for sharing our ambitions to host a world-class stage for our players, teams, officials and fans and I wish all of them the very best in the bidding process,” he added.

The AFC will now work with each Bidding Member Association to delivery necessary documentation as per the bidding process and will confirm the host for the 19th edition of the AFC Asian Cup in 2021.

Among the five Member Associations that have expressed an interest, Qatar and the Islamic Republic of Iran have already hosted the tournament twice since its inception in 1956. While Qatar hosted the competition in 1988 and 2011, Iran are the only nation in Asian football history to have won the tournament twice at home in 1968 and 1976.

The AIFF who were recently declared as hosts for the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup and are the hosts for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup next year will be hoping to add another feather to its cap by bagging the 2027 Asian Cup hosting rights.