India has submitted ‘Expression of Interest (EoI)’ to host the 2031 AFC Asian Cup, the continent’s showpiece football event, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said on Friday. The AIFF was one of the seven national football bodies which submitted the EoI before the deadline of March 31. “Yes, we have submitted the EoI to host the 2031 AFC Asian Cup. Let us see how it goes,” AIFF’s deputy secretary general M Satyanarayan told PTI. India will face tough competition from established football powerhouses such as Australia, South Korea and United Arab Emirates to get the right to host the tournament. Indonesia and Kuwait have also submitted the EoI while there is a joint bid of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The host country, which will be picked in 2026, will get automatic berth in the tournament. India finished runners-up in the 1964 edition and were eliminated in the group stage in 1984, 2011, 2019 and 2023. The tournament began in 1956.

Out of the seven bidding countries, Australia, UAE, South Korea and Kuwait have earlier hosted the tournament.

Chairing the Asian Football Confederation’s Executive Committee meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on the eve of the 35th AFC Congress, president Shaikh Salman lauded “the highest ever number of EoIs received in modern history and attributed the exceptional reception to the growing prestige of Asia’s crown jewel.” The AFC had sent out invitations on November 27, 2024, for all member associations to express their interest in hosting Asia’s most prestigious men’s national team tournament. The deadline to submit the EoI was March 31, 2025.

“The unprecedented level of interest we have witnessed reflects both the high ambitions of the AFC’s Member Associations and their increasing confidence in their own capacities and capabilities to host a tournament as significant as the AFC Asian Cup,” Salman said.

The AFC will now work with the bidding countries on the delivery of the necessary bid documentation in accordance with the established timelines and processes. A bidding workshop is scheduled to be held later this month.

Thereafter, an overall evaluation of the bids will be undertaken by the AFC administration prior to the selection of the host for the 24-team competition by the AFC Congress in 2026.

India has never hosted the tournament, the continent’s equivalent of World Cup. It had submitted bids to host the 2023 and 2027 editions when Praful Patel was the AIFF president.

The bid for the 2023 edition was withdrawn in 2018 and the same happened in case of the 2027 tournament also.

In December 2022, a few months after incumbent Kalyan Chaubey took charge as AIFF president, India withdrew its bid to stage the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, declaring that hosting big-ticket events is not among its “strategic priorities” at that juncture.

The AIFF’s decision had left Saudi Arabia to be the lone candidate to host the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, the 19th edition of the continent’s showpiece event.