体坛英语新闻：China plans to bid for AFC Asian Cup 2023

BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- China is planning to bid to host the AFC Asian Cup 2023, said the official website of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) on Wednesday.

The tournament will be held in June or July 2023 with a total of 51 matches through 30 days. Twenty-four teams will be divided into six groups. The winners and runners-up of each group and the four best third-finishers will qualify for the knockout stage.

At least six cities and eight stadia are needed for the tournament. Moreover, the capacity of each stadium for the group stage, round of 16 and quarterfinals is at least 25,000, and that for the tournament's opener, semifinals and final is at least 40,000.

The CFA said that it is consulting with all its members about the issue in a bid to select the qualified cities and stadia, and that the city willing to be a host must lodge its application before March 20, 2016.

From April 2016, the CFA will study all the applications in line with the Asian Football Confederation rules.

China had ever hosted the AFC Asian Cup 2004 and its national team finished second then, which was the best result China made in its AFC Asian Cup tours.

In the year 2013, the CFA had planned to bid for the AFC Asian Cup 2019 but gave it up later.