The Organizing Committee of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, which Qatar will host from January 12 to February 10, 2024, announced today, Monday, that the opening and final matches will be held at the Lusail World Cup stadium, which hosted the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar.
The Asian Cup (Qatar 2023) is witnessing enthusiastic competitions between a number of the best football teams in the continent of Asia, and the tournament matches will be hosted by nine modern stadiums built according to the best international specifications, including seven World Cup stadiums.
Lusail Stadium will host the opening and final matches, and the Qatari national team will play the opening match against its Lebanese counterpart.
Lusail Stadium has a capacity of 88,000 seats, and it was famous for hosting the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France, which ended with Argentina winning the title.
The upcoming Asian Championship will host six other World Cup stadiums, namely Al Bayt Stadium, Al Janoub Stadium, Al Thumama Stadium, Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium, Education City Stadium and Khalifa International Stadium.
These stadiums will be joined by Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium and Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium, which are the strongholds of Al Sadd and Al Duhail, respectively.
24 teams are participating in the Asian Cup (Qatar 2023), and they have been divided into six groups, and the tournament will witness up to three matches per day during the group stage.
Thanks to the close-distance nature of the State of Qatar, fans will have an exceptional opportunity to attend more than one match during the day, and this feature allows fans coming from outside the country to stay in one place throughout the duration of the tournament.
Jassim Abdulaziz Al Jassim, CEO of the Local Organizing Committee for the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, said: “We are pleased to host the Asian Championship for the third time in Qatar. We are confident that the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 will be the best edition that has been organized so far, and the match schedule will witness a number of Fantastic, high-energy rivalries between some of the most famous teams in Asia.”
Al-Jassem added, “We are excitedly awaiting the return of the international football atmosphere to the stadiums in Qatar, and their stadiums will be filled with fans who are passionate about the world of the round witch, and who will come to the country from all over the continent to attend the matches of the prestigious sporting event.”
Qatar hosted the Asian Cup, the most important tournament in Asia, in 1988 and 2011.
The Qatari team, the holder of the championship title, will be keen to retain the title at home and among its fans, after its success in reaching the podium in 2019.
The Qatari team will compete in Group A alongside China, Tajikistan and Lebanon.
After playing the opening match at Lusail Stadium, the Qatari national team will play its next two matches in the group stage against the Tajikistan national team at Al Bayt Stadium on January 17, and against the Chinese national team at Khalifa International Stadium on the 22nd of the same month.
The first and second-placed teams from each group, along with the four best third-placed teams in the six groups, qualify for the round of 16.
The tournament will conclude at Lusail Stadium on the tenth of February.
