February 4 – The Asian Football Confederation has closed the initial bidding process for the 2035 AFC Asian Cup. Final host selection will run in parallel with the decision on the 2031 edition.
The move follows a proposal by AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa to take both tournaments to a single Congress for approval.
Salman argued it offers long-term certainty around hosting rights, infrastructure planning and commercial alignment across its most important national team competition.
Football Australia, Japan, Korea Republic and Kuwait have all formally lodged bids for 2035.
Australia and Korea are also in the running for 2031.
The 2031 race is more crowded following the conclusion of last year’s bidding phase: Australia, India, Indonesia, Korea Republic and Kuwait are joined by a joint Central Asian bid from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as the current liver bidders. The United Arab Emirates, who hosted the first of the expanded Asian Cups in 2019, an edition that marked a step-change for the finals competition, has withdrawn.
The India and Indonesian 2031 bids are focused around the large scale opportunities their countries provide and strong government backing, while Central Asia’s joint proposal reflects an increasing engagement in the AFC’s major events beyond its traditional East and West Asian power bases.
Australia and Korea, by contrast, offer reassuring predictability: established infrastructure, proven delivery, mature broadcast markets and proven commercial appeal to global sponsors.
A part of the AFC decision making process will be the long term commercial partners the bidders are likely to bring with them, and the potential to grow tournament revenues over multiple cycles. The AFC is currently in the process of tendering its commercial rights for the next cycle.
The Asian Cup has grown rapidly over the last two editions in the UAE and Qatar in 2023. Those two editions were played on January dates to avoid the heat of the Gulf summer – Qatar stepped in to host 2023 when China pulled out and the date was moved from Summer 2022 to January 2023. The 2027 edition in Saudi Arabia will also take place in January.
Depending on 2031 and 2035 host selection, the opportunity could be there to move to a Summer finals.
The AFC will now work with bidder Member Associations to coordinate formal documentation. That process will include detailed assessments of infrastructure readiness, government guarantees, commercial delivery and legacy planning.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1770228568labto1770228568ofdlr1770228568owedi1770228568sni@g1770228568niwe.1770228568yrrah1770228568
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