2019 Asian Cup: United Arab Emirates to host the tournament for a second time
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THE 2019 Asian Cup will be held in the United Arab Emirates, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has announced, following a meeting of its executive committee in Manama, Bahrain.
The UAE will host the competition for the second time having previously held the event in 1996.
Iran was the only other country to present a final bid for the tournament after nine others dropped out at various stages in the process.
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“I would like to congratulate the UAE Football Association on their successful bid to host the AFC Asian Cup 2019,” AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said.
“The UAE won the right unanimously.
“The AFC executive committee was convinced by the merits of the UAE bid. I firmly believe that the UAE FA will host a tournament that could match and potentially even surpass the stunning AFC Asian Cup 2015 in Australia that we have all just witnessed.”
The UAE bid proposed to organise the tournament in three cities: Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Al-Ain.
The 2015 edition in Australia in January, won by the hosts, is to be the last tournament of 16 teams.
In the UAE in 2019 it will increase to 24.
Originally published as 2019 Asian Cup: United Arab Emirates to host the tournament for a second time
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