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One year from now, Celtic could face a bit of a problem.

Ange Postecoglou is in the midst of building a deep and formidable squad to withstand the rigours of a potential 60-game season across at least four different competitions.

However a delay to the 2023 Asian Cup means the tournament is now likely to take place mid-season, in early 2024, instead of this coming summer.

It means up to eight of the current squad - including four bonafide first-teamers and three who will hope to be counted among their number by that stage - could be unavailable.

Let's take a closer look...

When is the 2023 Asian Cup?

Like Euro 2020, which took place in 2021, the 2023 Asian Cup is a misnomer.

The 24-team tournament was initially slated to be held in China from June 16 to July 16 this year. However, in May 2022, the Asian Football Confederation confirmed China would not host after all due to the country's Covid-19 policy.

Later, in mid-October last year, the AFC announced that despite bids from the likes of South Korea the competition would instead take place in Qatar.

Like with the recent FIFA World Cup, the high temperatures there were deemed an insurmountable obstacle to hosting - and Qatar had already accepted an invitation to guest at the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the summer - so it was postponed from the middle of 2023 to early 2024.

At the time of writing, the official dates are yet to be set in stone but it is understood the AFC and the Qatar FA intend to kick off on or near January 24 2024.

How does that impact Celtic?

The SPFL has already released the key dates for the 2023-24 season - and as it stands the winter break does not coincide with the proposed Asian Cup kick-off date.

Following consultation with clubs the Scottish top flight will take a two-weekend winter break after fixture round 22 on Tuesday January 2, which is often the date of the new year Glasgow Derby.

This means Celtic will be on hiatus between January 3 and January 19 2024, returning to competitive action on the eve of the Asian Cup.

Essentially, based on the current composition of the Hoops squad, Ange Postecoglou could return from the mid-season break around a year from now without up to eight of his first-team squad.

Who could miss out?

Let's take this nation by nation. First up...

Japan

Japan go strong for these tournaments with Maya Yoshida, Shinji Okazaki and Shinji Kagawa all featuring previously so it's likely all of Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate, Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata could be in the running for inclusion.

Celtic currently have five Japanese players on their books, with four in with a justifiable shout of being called into Hajime Moriyasu's squad for the tournament.

Kyogo, the oldest of Celtic's Japanese contingent, has yet to play at an Asian Cup. He narrowly missed out on 2022 World Cup selection and will hope to have been reinstated for the November 2023 World Cup qualifiers. If so, this tournament would be an ideal platform for him to solidify that place.

Celtic Way:

Maeda was the only one of the five to make the World Cup, where he scored and impressed. He has also not competed at an Asian Cup having been drafted into the senior squad in June 2019, six months after the last iteration.

Hatate, meanwhile, may be just a month younger than Maeda but due to his time at university is much younger in footballing terms and is still viewed as a rising star trying to force his way in. Given his progress since joining Celtic, it's a safe bet he will be targeting Asian Cup inclusion.

Yosuke Ideguchi has not been capped since 2019 and is perhaps unlikely to even be at Celtic by the time the tournament rolls around. 

Not so Iwata, though. The January signing from Yokohama F Marinos has four caps to his name, including two last year in the East Asian Football Championship, and as the reigning J1 League MVP will be very much on Moriyasu's radar.

Kobayashi has yet to be capped at senior level but if he breaks into the Celtic first XI he would surely stand an outside chance of a call.

In case you were wondering, Shunsuke Nakamura won it twice (2000 and 2004) and finished fourth in 2007 as a Celtic player.

Australia

Aaron Mooy missed the last Asian Cup due to injury but it is understood he would have been called up if not for that reason. Tom Rogic, then at Celtic, was included and scored.

For Mooy's part, 33 he may be by the time this kicks off but his performances at the Qatar World Cup showed he is still very much a key part of the Socceroos squad. You imagine, given his growing influence at Celtic, it will only be by international retirement that he isn't asked to play.

Notably, the Asian Cup is the tournament Postecoglou won as Australia manager back in 2015. Mooy, then at Melbourne City, was merely on the fringes of selection at that stage though and only properly broke back into the setup later that year.

South Korea

New striker Oh Hyeon-gyu has one cap for the senior national side but the 21-year-old only missed out on the World Cup squad by virtue of Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min regaining fitness.

As part of our comprehensive coverage of Oh's signing, TCW heard from Korean football expert Jason Lee. Jason told us that there is no doubt in his mind Oh is targeting an Asian Cup call-up as he vies with Cho Gue-sung, a former Celtic target himself, for recognition.

"For sure I think his main competition for that is the player that Celtic were also linked to - Cho. Those two are the two young emerging Korean strikers. 

"If Oh impresses at Celtic and catches the eye of the new manager then I've no doubt he'll be right there in contention to start at the Asian Cup."

It would, it's worth noting, be a matter of national pride for him to be in an Asian Cup-winning squad given South Korea haven't won it since 1960, losing in the final on four occasions since (1972, 1980, 1988 and 2015).

Can Celtic do anything?

In short, yes. They can request a postponement to any fixtures impacted by the international call-ups. The Asian Cup is within FIFA's international fixture calendar and as such clubs are obliged to release players for the tournament if called up.

Whether they would request rescheduling or not is up for debate. The club found itself in a situation in early 2022 where they could have considered such a request due to potential qualifying call-ups for Rogic, Maeda, Kyogo, Hatate and Cameron Carter-Vickers.

It did not come to pass - neither Hatate nor Carter-Vickers were called up and Kyogo got injured - but it was understood to be an unlikely route for the club to take at the time.

Rule G7 of the SPFL rulebook states that clubs can request a re-arrangement of “any official match where three or more of its players who would otherwise have participated in such match are unavailable through international selection and, following receipt of such an application, the board may postpone and rearrange the relevant official match in accordance with rule G3”.

This piece is an extract from the latest Celtic Digest newsletter, which is emailed out every weekday evening with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from The Celtic Way team.

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