South Korea looks to host 2023 AFC Asian Cup

South Korea has entered the race to host the 2023 AFCR Asian Cup after the Korea Football Association (KFA) announced it had submitted a letter of interest to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The country, which co-hosted the 2002 World Cup with Japan, is hoping to stage the quadrennial event for the first time since 1960, when the two-time winners last claimed the title.

The KFA announcement follows China having also revealed its intention to bid for the event.

Announcing its bid intention, a KFA statement explained “although the deadline to submit the letter of interest was March 31, we wanted to take care of it early to demonstrate our strong willingness to stage the competition.”

South Korea were runners up at the last edition of the tournament in Australia in 2015, losing to hosts Australia in front of over 76,000 people Sydney’s ANZ Stadium.

They won the tournament in 1956 and also finished second at the 1972 competition in Thailand, the 1980 event in Kuwait and in Qatar in 1988.

The country is due to stage the Under-20 World Cup in six cities and the KFA hope to use the 2023 tournament to enhance the popularity of the sport in South Korea.

The nation has shown a strong interest in staging major sporting events in recent years, with the Under-20 event coming a year before Pyeongchang becomes the first-ever South Korean city to host the Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

The next edition of the competition takes place in 2019 and will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates, which is due to feature 24 countries playing matches at six stadiums in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Dubai.

The AFC is expected to choose a winning country at its Executive Committee meeting in 2017.

Image: Korean football fans at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Sydney.

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