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 felt it would be tenuous for Malaysia to organise 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 meet the high criteria as stipulated because it is the biggest football competition in Asia,’’ he said when met recently.

“Time is also a constraint for Malaysia to host the event because it 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 as host or otherwise.”

“FAM president Hamidin Mohd Amin can call for a meeting 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 Windsor John said bid documentation will be sent to 47 countries in Asia including Malaysia as early as next week to find a new host for the 2023 Asian Cup.

Windsor said AFC will give interested countries up till the end of next month to submit their proposal paper to replace China who withdrew from organising 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.

Saifuddin said FAM has set a target for the national Under-23 (B-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.