"Asian Cup" redirects here. For the cricket tournament, see Asia Cup. The AFC Asian Cup is a football tournament run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The winning team becomes the champion of Asia and automatically qualifies for the FIFA Confederations Cup.
The Asian Cup had been held once every four years from 1956 until 2004. However, since the Summer Olympic Games and the European Football Championship were also scheduled in the same year as the Asian Cup (2004, 2008, 2012 etc.), the AFC decided to move their championship to a less crowded cycle. After 2004, the tournament was held in 2007 and will be held every four years.
The Asian cup has been dominated by the top teams in Asia over the years, typically from East Asia or West Asia. Traditional successful teams are Iran, Korea Republic and Saudi Arabia. Recently Japan and Saudi Arabia are the successful teams and often earned a spot for themselves in the final matches. Other teams which have achieved success at times include Iraq, Kuwait, China and the United Arab Emirates.
Australia is the most recent nation to join the Asian confederation in 2007.[1]
Results
Most Successful national teams
| Team |
Champions |
Runners-up |
Third-place |
Fourth-place |
 Saudi Arabia |
3 (1984, 1988, 1996) |
3 (1992, 2000, 2007) |
- |
- |
 Iran |
3 (1968*, 1972, 1976*) |
- |
4 (1980, 1988, 1996, 2004) |
1 (1984) |
 Japan |
3 (1992*, 2000, 2004) |
- |
- |
1 (2007) |
 Korea Republic |
2 (1956, 1960*) |
3 (1972, 1980, 1988) |
3 (1964, 2000, 2007) |
- |
 Israel # |
1 (1964*) |
2 (1956, 1960) |
1 (1968) |
- |
 Kuwait |
1 (1980*) |
1 (1976) |
1 (1984) |
1 (1996) |
 Iraq |
1 (2007) |
- |
- |
1 (1976) |
 China PR |
- |
2 (1984, 2004*) |
2 (1976, 1992) |
2 (1988, 2000) |
 United Arab Emirates |
- |
1 (1996*) |
- |
1 (1992) |
 India |
- |
1 (1964) |
- |
- |
 Myanmar |
- |
1 (1968) |
- |
- |
 Chinese Taipei |
- |
- |
1 (1960) |
1 (1968) |
 Hong Kong |
- |
- |
1 (1956*) |
1 (1964) |
 Thailand |
- |
- |
1 (1972*) |
- |
 South Vietnam |
- |
- |
- |
2 (1956,1960) |
 Bahrain |
- |
- |
- |
1 (2004) |
 Cambodia |
- |
- |
- |
1 (1972) |
 Korea DPR |
- |
- |
- |
1 (1980) |
- * = as hosts
- # = Israel was expelled from the AFC in the early 1970s
Summaries
Performances by host nations
Best performances by region
Awards
Most Valuable Players
Top scorers
Fair Play Awards
Records and statistics
Overall top goalscorers
| Goals |
Scorers |
| 14 |
Ali Daei |
| 10 |
Lee Dong-Gook |
| 9 |
Naohiro Takahara |
| 8 |
Jassem Al-Houwaidi |
| 7 |
Behtash Fariba, Hossein Kalani, Choi Soon-Ho, Faisal Al-Dakhil |
| 6 |
Yasser Al-Qahtani |
| 5 |
Younis Mahmoud, A'ala Hubail, Ali Karimi, Ali Jabbari, Akinori Nishizawa, Woo Sang-Kwon, Hwang Sun-Hong, Nahum Stelmach |
Most tournaments appeared
The tabulated below is the players who had appeared more than four times in the history of tournament.
AFC Asian Cup winning managers
Score
Attendance
| Year |
Host nation |
Mpd |
Total Att. |
Avg Att. |
| 1992 |
Japan |
16 |
316,496 |
19,781 |
| 1996 |
United Arab Emirates |
26 |
398,008 |
15,308 |
| 2000 |
 Lebanon |
26 |
230,490 |
8,865 |
| 2004 |
China PR |
32 |
1,020,050 |
31,877 |
| 2007 |
 Vietnam
 Indonesia
Thailand
 Malaysia |
32 |
724,222 |
22,632 |
Participating nations
Participating nations by number of final tournament appearances:
- 11 times
- 9 times
- 8 times
- 7 times
- 6 times
|
- 4 times
- 3 times
- 2 times
|
- 1 time
|
First-time Participating Nations by year
- 2007: Vietnam,
 Australia
- 2004:
 Jordan,  Turkmenistan,  Oman
- 2000: Lebanon
- 1996: Indonesia,
 Uzbekistan
- 1992:None
- 1988: Bahrain, Japan
- 1984: Saudi Arabia,
 Singapore
- 1980:
 Bangladesh, Korea DPR,  Qatar,  Syria, United Arab Emirates
- 1976:
 South Yemen, China PR, Malaysia
- 1972: Thailand, Cambodia, Iraq, Kuwait
- 1968:
 Iran,  Burma
- 1964: India
- 1960: Chinese Taipei
- 1956: Korea Republic, Israel, South Vietnam,
 Hong Kong
Qualification Participating Nations by First Participate year
- 2011:None
- 2007: Australia
- 2004:
 Timor-Leste
- 2000:
 Palestine,  Laos,  Bhutan,  Mongolia
- 1996:
 Guam,  Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,  Tajikistan,  Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam,  Yemen,  Maldives
- 1992:None
- 1988:None
- 1984:
 North Yemen,  Pakistan, Oman,  Nepal
- 1980: Bangladesh,
 Macau, United Arab Emirates
- 1976:
 Afghanistan, South Yemen, Korea DPR, China PR, Saudi Arabia, Qatar
- 1972:
 Brunei,  Iraq,  Sri Lanka, Jordan, Lebanon,  Syria, Kuwait,  Bahrain
- 1968: Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, Burma
- 1964:None
- 1960: Singapore,
 Hong Kong, India, Pakistan,  Iran
- 1956: Korea Republic,
 Philippines,  Republic of China,  Malaya, Cambodia, South Vietnam, Israel
General Statistics
References and footnotes
External links
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AFC Asian Cup |
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AFC football |
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