AFC and Indian Football Federation apologize, Cambodia team will not give up the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers

In the past few days, information about Cambodia’s threat to abandon the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers has been interested. The President of the Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC) Keo Sareth has confirmed that the Cambodian team will not continue to play in the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers if the AFC and host country India do not apologize and fix the problems related to the size. The size of the Cambodian national flag in the hotel as well as the faulty sound when performing the Cambodian national anthem before the match between India and Cambodia.

Cambodia team (white shirt) in the match against host India on the night of June 8 (Photo: AFC)

On the evening of June 8 and the morning of June 9, the AFC and AIFF both apologized and vowed to correct the errors in the past few days. The representative of Cambodia has also accepted the apology. It is known that this team will still participate in the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers.

AFC’s apology letter to Cambodia (Photo: AFC)

AFC’s apology letter reads:We regret that the Cambodian flag in this tournament did not meet the exact requirements for design and color. AFC is pleased to announce that we will be projecting an accurate image of the Kingdom of Cambodia’s national flag on the graphic display during the upcoming match against India. This is also how we deal with similar cases.”

Meanwhile, AIFF’s apology to the Cambodian team wrote: “We sincerely apologize to the Football Federation of Cambodia and the Cambodia national team for the incidents that occurred at the hotel and at the stadium before the match started. We will do our best so that these mistakes do not happen again. in the coming days“.

AIFF’s apology letter to Cambodia (Photo: FFC)

The third qualifying round of the 2023 Asian Cup has all 24 participating teams divided into 6 groups to compete in 3 matches in 6 different countries from June 8-14. The 6 best teams and 5 excellent runner-ups will win tickets to the finals. These 11 teams will join 13 teams with direct tickets (including Vietnam Tel) to participate in the finals in 2023.

Cambodia is in Group D with the home teams India, Hong Kong (China) and Afghanistan. Cambodia lost to India 0-2 in the opening match last night. They will have two more matches against Hong Kong (China) on June 11 before facing Afghanistan on June 14.