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The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Executive Committee officially ratified a series of major hosting and regulatory decisions, including the confirmation of Japan as the host of the 2028 edition of the AFC U23 Asian Cup™, which will serve as Asia’s qualifiers for the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics.
Japan secured the hosting rights following a competitive bidding process that included submissions from Jordan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Qatar, and Uzbekistan as well as the United Arab Emirates, who subsequently withdrew earlier this year.
While all final bidders met the minimum requirements, Japan was selected based on its world-class facilities, minimal operational risk, and in the spirit of ensuring geographic diversity and the strategic rotation of major Asian football tournaments.
In addition to approving the Competition Regulations of the AFC U23 Asian Cup Japan 2028™, the Committee also endorsed a strategic realignment of the youth tournament roadmap to optimise Continental hosting resources. Under the updated plan, the hosting rights for the AFC U17 Asian Cup 2027™ have been transferred to the Uzbekistan Football Association (UFA). Concurrently, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) has been officially awarded the hosting rights for the subsequent AFC U17 Asian Cup 2029™.
Several structural reforms were passed to elevate the competitive integrity across the AFC’s club competitions. Starting from the 2026/27 season, the AFC Champions League Elite™ will follow a set of updated core principles in its match scheduling in accordance with the newly expanded competition format featuring 32 participating clubs. Each club will now play two matches against the clubs from each pot, as decided by the draw which will now utilise four pots instead of two. To guarantee absolute sporting fairness, the final League Stage matchdays will now feature simultaneous kick-offs in both the East and West regions respectively.
Additionally, new qualification rules for the AFC U20 Asian Cup™ will guarantee previous tournament hosts a slot in the Qualification Phase if they enter as a non-host. Conversely, any Member Association that fails to enter or withdraws from the tournament will face mandatory relegation to the Development Phase in the subsequent edition.
Meanwhile, to maintain a complete 32-team qualification field, open slots will be assigned to the highest-ranked teams relegated to the Development Phase in the preceding cycle. However, should any team withdraw following the AFC’s final entry confirmation, the tournament will proceed without a replacement.
Finally, following the successful delivery of the 2024/25 and 2025/26 editions, SAFF’s provisional hosting rights for the AFC Champions League Elite™ Finals that was confirmed in December 2023 have been made permanent for the 2026/27, 2027/28, and 2028/29 seasons.
