(Dan Tri) - The Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) has officially submitted an application to host the 2031 Asian Cup to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The last time Indonesia hosted an Asian Cup was in 2007. That year, the archipelago co-hosted with three other Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.
Indonesian football determined to host Asian Cup 2031 (Photo: Tien Tuan).
This time, Indonesia decided to host alone. According to information from PSSI, the application to host the 2031 Asian Football Championship has been signed by PSSI Secretary General Yunus Nusi and has been sent to AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
Indonesian football is making significant progress in many aspects, both in terms of expertise, finance, stadiums, and international position and relations.
Technically, Indonesia is the only Southeast Asian team competing in the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia. They are one of two Southeast Asian teams to reach the round of 16 of the 2023 Asian Cup (the most recent Asian Cup).
In addition, the Indonesian U23 team is the defending champion of the SEA Games men's football event.
Indonesia owns very magnificent and modern stadiums (Photo: Kompas).
In terms of stadiums, the archipelago country has good quality, international standard football stadiums. Notably, the Jakarta International Stadium, which can accommodate up to 82,000 people, was just opened in 2022. This is currently the largest stadium in Indonesia.
In addition, the Gelora Bung Karno stadiums (in Jakarta, capacity of 77,000 people), Gelora Bung Tomo (in Surabaya, East Java, capacity of 47,000 seats), Patriot Candrabhaga (Bekasi, West Java, 30,000 seats), or Pakansari (Bogor Regency, West Java, 30,000 seats) are also very modern.
Regarding international relations, the current PSSI president is Mr. Erick Thohir, who was the former president of the famous Inter Milan Club (Italy). Therefore, Mr. Thohir has very good relationships with global football officials. In addition, as a big businessman, a billionaire, PSSI president Erick Thohir also significantly solved the financial problems for Indonesian football.
The goal of Mr. Thohir in particular and Indonesian football in general is to help this football reach the Asian level, so they do not hesitate to apply to host the Asian football championship.
Before applying to host the 2031 Asian Cup, Indonesia intended to compete with Saudi Arabia to host the 2034 World Cup finals, but they decided to withdraw at the last minute to focus on the goal of organizing the 2031 Asian Cup.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/bong-da-indonesia-lai-choi-lon-quyet-dang-cai-asian-cup-2031-20241211124832110.htm
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