*This content was translated by AI.
Japan and China, which clashed in the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-23 (U-23) Asian Cup final, will consider hosting the U-23 Asian Cup home two years later. Two years later, the competition will also serve as the Asian qualifying round for the 2028 Los Angeles (LA) Olympics, and it is determined to qualify for the LA Olympics with a clear home advantage.
According to local media reports such as Japanese media Kokoka and China's Sohu on the 28th, the Japanese Football Association is considering hosting the 2028 AFC U-23 Asian Cup two years later, and the Chinese Football Association is likely to join the ranks. Sohu said, "Japan's ambition cannot be ignored. The news of considering hosting the event itself is a strong message, he said. "It shows his willingness to secure the right to participate in the Olympics by hosting his own country."
There is no specific movement yet, but the Chinese Football Association is also expected to push for the tournament. China has advanced to the finals beyond its first-ever tournament at this tournament, and is full of hopes for participation in the LA Olympics. China has participated in the finals as a host country only at the 2008 Beijing Games held in its own country, and has never played in the Olympics since the Asian qualifiers.
"China is also considered one of the leading candidates in the competition for the tournament," the media said. There is also a good possibility that AFC will entrust China with the right to host the tournament. AFC has already approved China's consecutive hosting of the U-20 Asian Cup, he said. "If China's U-23 national team, which won the runner-up prize in the next tournament, plays at home, it can avoid the burden of long-distance travel and fight with familiar environments and fans' support." It will be a decisive force in the group stage or tournament, he added.
As soon as the competition is over, news of the bid to host the next competition two years later is reported one after another because the U-23 Asian Cup will also serve as a preliminary round for the LA Olympics two years later, and the number of Olympic tickets allocated to Asia has been reduced to only two. The biennial U-23 Asian Cup will also serve as Olympic qualifiers only for the Olympics held in the year of the Olympics. Fortunately, this year's event, in which South Korea finished fourth, had nothing to do with qualifying for the Olympics. However, two years later, the final performance of the competition will determine whether to participate in the LA Olympics. The cycle of hosting the event will be changed to four years from the 2028 competition.
Moreover, the men's soccer finals at the LA Olympics will be held from the previous 16 teams to 12 teams. In the process, the number of tickets to the Olympic finals in Asia was reduced from 3.5 to 2. In other words, only two teams that reach the final of the 2028 U-23 Asian Cup can head to the finals of the LA Olympics. Naturally, the U-23 Asian Cup, which also serves as an Olympic qualifier, must be held at home to qualify for the Olympics in a slightly advantageous situation. Japan, which entered the Olympic mode early enough to allow the U-21 national team to participate in the Asian Cup, and China, which has seen the possibility of the Olympics through its first-ever finals, are also raising voices to host the Asian Cup.
Not only Japan but also China are already looking at the qualifying round for the LA Olympics two years later, but South Korea's contract period is unclear even whether coach Lee Min-sung will go to the LA Olympics. South Korea, led by head coach Lee Min-sung, suffered helpless losses to Uzbekistan and Japan, who are two years younger, respectively, and kneeled down to Vietnam for the first time in the third-place match. As the head coach's future is uncertain and the Asian Games in Aichi and Nagoya in September are more urgent tasks, the talk of qualifying for the LA Olympics two years later is inevitably put on the back burner. The reality is that they have no choice but to fall behind other competing teams.
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*This content was translated by AI.
