Central Asian countries are considering a joint bid to host the Asian Football Cup

The President of the Central Asian Football Association, Rustam Emomali, in his speech at the 8th CAFA Congress in Dushanbe, said that the countries of Central Asia will submit a conscientious application to host the final of the Asian Cup in 2031 or 2035.

“Our Central Asian region has never hosted the final part of the Asian Cup. I think that this time has come. Our region is represented by very strong teams and I am sure that together with the fraternal countries we will hold the final part of the Asian championship at the highest level. We decided that we will submit a joint application to host the Asian Cup in 2031 or 2035 in Central Asia”, the official website of the Football Federation of Tajikistan quotes Rustam Emomali as saying.

The President of the Asian Football Confederation, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, in his speech at the CAFA Congress, supported the initiative of the head of CAFA Rustami Emomali to submit a joint application from the countries of Central Asia to host the final part of the Asian Cup and said that this region deserved to host the Asian championship among national teams.

The Central Asian Football Association, which was founded in June 2014, is part of one of the five zones of the AFC. CAFA unites the football federations of six countries - Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The Asian Cup (AFC Asian Cup) is the main competition of the Asian national football teams, held under the leadership of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The competition has been held every 4 years since 1956 and takes place one year after the World Cup. The winner is declared Asian Champion. More often than others - four times - the Japanese team won the cup. The last tournament, held in 2019 in the UAE, ended with the victory of the Qatar team. The next Asian Cup will be held from January 12 to February 10, 2024 in Qatar. Since 2019, 24 teams have taken part in the tournament (before that, from 4 to 16 teams in different years). In 2027, the Asian Football Cup will be held in Saudi Arabia.