2023 Asian Cup: AFC extends deadline for hosting bids from June 30 to July 15 | OneFootball

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Tuesday confirmed that they have extended it's deadline to receive bids for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup to July 15 after China withdrew as host due to COVID-19 related issues.

China were scheduled to host the 24-team tournament in June and July next year, but decided to relinquish hosting rights due to COVID-19 issues and their efforts in following a zero-COVID policy.

The AFC confirmed it was extending the deadline for bids by countries to July 15 from June 30 for member federations to show interest.

"The (AFC) has today issued an Expression of Interest (EoI) invitation to all the AFC Member Associations (MAs) to host the AFC Asian Cup 2023. The deadline for interested MAs to submit their EoI ... is June 30, 2022," AFC said in a statement.

The selection process has been expedited and the hosts will no longer be selected by AFC's Congress. Instead, the confederation's administration will define the terms and requirements of the bidding process to find a replacement host and submit a report to allow the AFC's executive committee to make a final decision

South Korea's football association confirmed last week that it will launch a bid to host the event while Japan said in May it had been informally approached about the possibility of replacing China as hosts - with even Football Australia stating that they are weighing up a possible bid.