Abu Dhabi: The UAE are confident of hosting a successful 2019 AFC Asian Cup after winning a unanimous vote over Iran to host the continental football showpiece.
The decision was announced in Bahrain on Monday afternoon following a meeting of the Asian Football Confederation’s executive committee.
It will be the second time that the UAE has staged the Asia’s premier football tournament, having previously hosted it in 1996, when the home side lost a penalty shoot-out in the final to Saudi Arabia.
“The UAE won the right unanimously,” AFC president Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said.
UAE Football Association president Yousuf Al Sarkal said: “We are confident that everything will go according to plan thanks to the integrated and complimented bid in accordance with the most recent specifications and standards.
“Our beloved nation is qualified to host the continental event after 23 years from the first time since we hosted the finals in 1996, when we were unlucky to miss the title on a penalty shoot-out to Saudi Arabia in the final.
“We have hosted since then major international events, including the 2008 and 2009 Fifa Club World Cups, the 2003 Fifa Youth World Cup, the Fifa U-17 World Cup, let alone the other continental and Arab championships. Everybody knows the capabilities of the UAE in hosting mega international events in all sports,” he added.
Six stadia will be used for the January 2019 event, which will be expanded from 16 teams to 24: Zayed Sports City and Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi; Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium and Khalifa International Stadium in Al Ain; a 25,000-seater stadium under construction in Dubai Sports City; and the Dubai International Cricket Ground.
The country’s footballers have impressed on the continent in recent years, finishing third at this year’s Asian Cup in Australia and winning the 2013 Gulf Cup in Bahrain.
Such fine performances have resulted in Mahdi Ali’s men being ranked fifth in Asia.
It is believed that Iran’s hopes of holding the 2019 showpiece were affected by their refusal to allow women to attend home matches, a move Fifa president Sepp Blatter branded ‘intolerable’ last Friday.
The UAE and Iran were the only contenders to host the Asian Cup after mooted bids from China, Bahrain, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman, Thailand and Saudi Arabia never came to fruition.
