KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — World Cup host Qatar is set to play in the Gold Cup next year in the United States after accepting an invitation from soccer’s governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean.
The Asian Football Confederation issued a statement Thursday saying the Asian Cup champion will participate in the 2021 and 2023 Gold Cup tournaments as a guest under a memorandum of understanding signed in Bahrain in 2017.
“We saw the obvious opportunities for both confederations to help and improve each other both in terms of performances on the field — of teams, players and match officials as well as operations staff — and, just as importantly, the continued development of the game across our continents,” AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa said in a statement.