DUSHANBE, January 27, 2014, Asia-Plus - Tajikistan will participate in the qualifying round for the 2019 Asian football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup.

The bidding process for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, which is the process by which the location for the 17th AFC Asian Cup will be selected, officially began on December 15, 2012 and ended on February 2, 2013.

The AFC Competitions Committee confirmed on March 12, 2013 that 11 countries expressed interest in hosting the 2019 AFC Asian Cup: Bahrain, China, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Myanmar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.  Lebanon, Malaysia and Myanmar pulled out before the deadline to submit all documents on August 31, 2013.

The winning bid for the 17th edition of the continental showcase is expected to be announced during the next Asian Cup in 2015, to be held in Australia.

The 2019 AFC Asian Cup tournament will be expanded from 16 teams to 24 teams.

The AFC Asian Cup is an international association football tournament run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the second oldest continental football championship in the world after Copa America.   The winning team becomes the champion of Asia and automatically qualifies for the FIFA Confederations Cup.

The Asian Cup was held once every four years from the 1956 in Hong Kong until the 2004 in Mainland China. However, since the Summer Olympic Games and the European Football Championship were also scheduled in the same year as the Asian Cup, the AFC decided to move their championship to a less crowded cycle.  After 2004, the tournament was next held in 2007 and thereafter will be held every four years.