Iran, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are the other four bidders interested in hosting the continental championship. The winners of the bidding process will be announced in 2021.

In an official announcement, AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said:

He thanked the five Member Associations for expressing their support and hailed their ambitions as a sign of the increasing popularity of the AFC Asian Cup. He said:

History of the AFC Asian Cup

The first-ever AFC Asian Cup was hosted by Hong Kong in 1956 as a quadrangle single-legged league and was won by South Korea. The AFC Asian Cup has been played 18 times after a gap of four years every year, except for the 2007 edition, which was played after three years. The winners represent AFC in the FIFA Confederations Cup.

Japan are the most successful side in the Asian Cup as they have won the title on four occasions. (1992, 2000, 2004 and 2011). India have qualified for four editions of Asia’s premier international competition and their best performance came in the 1964 edition of the tournament when they finished as the runners-up.

Qatar are currently the defending champions of the Asian Cup. They won the 2019 edition after defeating Japan 3-1 in the final in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Meanwhile, India finished at the bottom of their group in 2019 after winning the opening game against Thailand with a 4-1 scoreline.

India has never hosted an Asian Cup

India had earlier expressed their interest to host the 2023 AFC Asian Cup but their bid was submitted beyond the deadline of March 2017. They subsequently withdrew their bid and chose to focus on the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2021 (earlier 2020) instead.

The 2027 edition will be the first-ever Asian Cup event to be hosted by India if the All India Football Federation wins the bidding.

Qatar and Iran are the only interested parties who have hosted the tournament before. Qatar hosted the 1988 and 2011 editions of the tournament while Iran are the only Asian side who have won the title twice on their home soil (1968 and 1976).

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