2023 Asian Cup: 6 months to go

Seven months since Qatar hosted the world’s biggest football competition, the country is gearing up again to host yet another major tournament. This time, it will be a celebration of Asian football coming to the gulf, as the 2023 Asian Cup will be hosted by Qatar for the third time.

With six months to go until the tournament kicks off, we now know the stadiums that will be used and all 24 teams that will be competing. And with Qatar being the reigning champions after winning the last edition of the tournament in 2019, they’ll be relishing the chance to defend their crown on home turf in January.

The draw that took place in Doha in May presented some intriguing groups. The hosts have been joined in Group A by China and Lebanon, as well as first timers Tajikistan.

China have never won the competition, but twice have been runners-up. Their international team is starting to hit form again after years of struggles due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The competition was originally scheduled to take place in China this year, but due to the pandemic had to be moved to the Middle-East. Their main objective will be to get out of the group stage. Meanwhile, Tajikistan will be making their debut in the competition after only being declared as an independent nation 30 years ago.

In Group B, 2015 winners Australia will be looking to keep creating happy memories in Qatar after capturing the imagination of their country and hearts of the world during the 2022 World Cup. For the first time in their history they made it out of the group stage, and gave eventual tournament winners Argentina a really competitive game in the round of 16, despite in the end losing 2-1 to Lionel Scaloni’s side in a tight contest. They’re joined by Uzbekistan, Syria and