All India Football Federation (AIFF) has submitted its bid to host the AFC Men’s Asian Cup 2027, the continental body confirmed on Saturday. Along with the Indian football federation, the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI), the Qatar Football Association (QFA), the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) and the Uzbekistan Football Association (UFA) have also thrown their hat in the ring.
This move from the AIFF comes after they got the rights to host AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022 back in June. India will also be hosting the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup next year in February.
To bid for the hosting rights, all the associations submitted their Form of Legal Opinion, Host Candidate Questionnaire and Sponsor Non-Infringement Undertakings to the AFC. AFC said that the next stage of the process will be for the federations to submit a Letter of Undertaking to meet the List of Requirements for the tournament by October 30, 2020.
AFC further stated that the hosts for the tournaments, which will be the 19th edition of the men’s Asian Cup, will be announced next year.
In the last Asian Cup, which was held in the UAE in 2019, India was in Group A, alongside the hosts, Thailand and Bahrain. India registered a memorable 4-1 win in their tournament opener with Sunil Chhetri scoring a brace and Anirudh Thapa and Jeje Lalpekhlua each finding the back of the net once.
However, India next lost 2-0 to UAE, making their final group match against Bahrain a do-or-die game. It was a heartbreaker as Bahrain’s Jamal Rashid scored a 91st minute penalty to knock out India.
In the currently-suspended due to coronavirus AFC Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers, India have already lost the chance to win their group and are fighting for a runners-up position to qualify. However, they are placed fourth in the group, below Qatar, Oman and Afghanistan.
In the three qualification matches so far, India bravely held 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts Qatar to a 0-0 draw away from home but succumed to a 2-1 loss to Oman at home and settled for a 1-1 draw to Bangladesh in Kolkata.
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