South Korea has announced its plan to enter the bidding process in hopes of hosting the 2023 Asian Cup, six decades after the country last hosted the event. The announcement comes in just days after China announced its intentions to also bid for the event.

In a statement acquired by the South Korean news agency Yonhap News, the Korean Football Association said, "Although the deadline to submit the letter of interest was March 31, we wanted to take care of it early to demonstrate our strong willingness to stage the competition. We will hand in our formal bid sometime in the first half of the year."

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South Korea was the runner up of the 2015 Asian Cup. The county last hosted the quadrennial event in 1960, the same year that it last won the trophy.

South Korea has showed increased interest in hosing large scale events recently. The county is scheduled to host the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in 2017. The following year, the country will host the Winter Olympics. It appears that South Korea is ramping up on its list of international events.

On the other hand, the Chinese Football Association is also vying to host the 2023 Asian Cup. Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a statement that the decision to bid for the Asian Cup is part of the country's plan to promote football in the county as well as reinvigorating its hopes of hosting the World Cup one day.

In order to win the bid, interested countries are required to present at least six cities and eight stadiums that will host a total of 51 fixtures. The tournament, which is held every four years, will last for at least a month.

The Asian Football Confederation will decide who will win the bird in November 2017. The United Arab Emirates will host the 2019 Asian Cup.

TagsChina Asian Cup, Asian Cup, Asian Cup China