Indonesia Submits Bid to Host 2023 Asian Cup

TheIndonesia.id - The Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) announced that it had formally submitted bid to host the 2023 Asian Cup after original host country China withdrew.

Chairman of the Indonesian FA Mochamad Iriawan said the decision was made upon receiving support from the Indonesian government to join the bid to host Asia’s football competition.

“Upon coordination with the government, in this case the Ministry of Youth and Sports, PSSI finally submitted the bid to become the host of Asian Cup 2023. PSSI thanks the government and Minister Zainudin Amali who has offered support,” Iriawan said in a statement on Tuesday, June 28.

He also confirmed that PSSI had submitted all requirements to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to support the bid.

Aside from Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and Qatar have also submitted their bid to host the tournament.

PSSI previously hesitated to submit its proposal because the 2023 Asian Cup will be held just before the U-20 World Cup, which will also be hosted by Indonesia.

The 2023 U-20 World Cup will be held from May 20 to June 11 while the Asian Cup is going to kick off on June 16 and end in July 16.

However, the decision was finally made after President Joko Widodo also appeared to support the idea.

“I talked to the President to ask for suggestion, and he told [us] to go ahead. We’ll see the decision from AFC,” Iriawan revealed.

China was originally appointed to host the Asian Cup but was forced to withdraw from hosting as the East Asian country continued to grapple with COVID-19 outbreak.

“Following extensive discussions with the Chinese Football Association (CFA), the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has been officially informed by the CFA that it would not be able to host the AFC Asian Cup 2023,” stated on May 14.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian national team has qualified for the tournament after finishing the qualifying round as the second best runner-up.