Postponed Asian Cup confirmed for January-February slot in Qatar next year
The quadrennial continental championship was originally awarded to China in 2019 but the world's most populous country relinquished the rights this year as it pursued a zero-COVID policy.
Qatar were then named the new hosts after the Gulf state was preferred to rival bids from South Korea and Indonesia.
As a result of that, the 24-team tournament has been moved from its original slot of mid-2023 to early 2024 to avoid the heat of the Gulf summer, just as the World Cup was moved from the summer of 2022 to the end of the year.
Qatar have hosted the Asian Cup twice in the past, in 1988 and 2011, and they won the last tournament in the United Arab Emirates in 2019, beating Japan 3-1 in the final.
The beaten finalists are the tournament's most successful nation, winning it four times, while Saudi Arabia and Iran have both done so on three occasions.
The AFC have confirmed that next year's tournament will be staged across eight stadiums, six of which were used during the World Cup.
The Asian Cup will coincide with the Africa Cup of Nations finals, which will run from January 13 to February 11 in Ivory Coast.
