KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia may not be able to replace China as host of the 2023 Asian Cup.
Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) secretary-general Mohd Saifuddin Abu Bakar personally felt it would be tenuous for Malaysia to organize the prestigious Asian football tournament as there is a lack of high-quality venues and pitches.
“In terms of logistics such as hotel, we have no problem but the organising country needs a minimum of four stadiums while the quality of training fields should also be of the same quality as the match venues.
“The training pitches have to also meet the high criteria as stipulated because it is the biggest football competition in Asia,’’ he said when met recently.
Apart from that, time is also a constraint for Malaysia to host it because the event requires meticulous preparations with the tournament slated for next year, this is even tough as a co-organiser with other countries.
“But this is my opinion, it depends on the decision of the exco meeting which would be held after the FAM Congress in August on whether to bid for the 2023 Asian Cup host or otherwise.
“FAM president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin can also call to discuss the matter (on organising 2023 Asian Cup) but so far there are no indications we are interested in organising the tournament,” he added.
Earlier, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) secretary-general Datuk Seri Windsor John said they are sending the bidding documentation to 47 countries in Asia including FAM as early as next week to find a new host for 2023 Asian Cup.
Windsor said AFC is giving up till the end of the next month for interested countries to submit their proposal paper to replace China who withdrew from organising the 2023 Asian Cup following the Covid-19 pandemic.
The only time Malaysia hosted the Asian Cup was in 2007 in which the country jointly organised it with Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Mohd Saifuddin said FAM has set a target for the national Under-23 (U-23) squad to qualify for the semi-finals and emerge among the top four teams at the 2022 U-23 Asian Cup in Uzbekistan, next month.
Brad Maloney’s men, who are expected to leave for Tashkent tomorrow, face a tough task in the U-23 2022 Asian Cup after being drawn in Group C alongside 2020 champions South Korea, 2018 runners-up Vietnam and Thailand. – Bernama, May 28, 2022
