The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has accepted All India Football Federation's (AIFF) bid to host the third round of the 2023 Asian Cup Qualifiers to be held from June 8 this year. The third round qualifiers are going to be held at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. The matches are being played on June 8, 11 and 14. China is also scheduled to host the main tournament in 2023.
AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das has said about this, 'We had submitted a bid to host the third round qualifiers of the AFC Asian Cup and we are grateful to the Asian Football Confederation that they have accepted our bid.' He has said that 'We understand that playing at home and that too Kolkata is going to be a win-win situation for the team in its campaign to qualify for the Asian Cup.' India had earlier 4 times in 1964, 1984, 2011 and 2019 Qualified for the Asian Cup.
Let us tell you that the team finished runners-up in 1964, which has also been their best performance in the history of the tournament. The Indian team has failed to progress beyond the group stage on the other three occasions while playing in the Asian Cup. India had defeated Thailand in the previous season but the team failed to make it to the knockouts by a small margin. The group winners and the second-place 5 best teams will advance to the main tournament to be held in China from 16 June 2023.
Sania and Lucy's pair managed to make it to semi-finals