AFC Asian 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 henceforth from then.

The Asian cup has been dominated by the top teams in Asia over the years, typically from East Asia or West Asia. Teams such as Korea Republic, Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have earned a spot for themselves in the final matches almost every year. Other teams which have achieved success at times include Japan, China, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, and, before the disaffiliation from AFC, Israel.


Map of countries' best resultsThe 2007 tournament was held in the South East Asian nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. This was won by Iraq beating Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the final on 29 July 2007.

Contents [hide]
1 Results
1.1 Summaries
1.2 Successful national teams
1.3 Performances by host nations
1.4 Best performances by region
2 Awards
2.1 Most Valuable Players
2.2 Top scorers
3 Records and statistics
3.1 Overall top goalscorers
3.2 Most tournaments appeared
3.3 AFC Asian Cup winning managers
3.4 Score
4 Participating nations
5 References and footnotes
6 External links



[edit] Results

[edit] Summaries
Year Host Final Third Place Match
Winner Score Runner-up 3rd Place Score 4th Place
1956
Details Hong Kong
Korea Republic [1]
Israel
Hong Kong [1]
South Vietnam
1960
Details South Korea
Korea Republic [1]
Israel
Taiwan [1]
South Vietnam
1964
Details Israel
Israel [1]
India
Korea Republic [1]
Hong Kong
1968
Details Iran
Iran [1]
Myanmar
Israel [1]
Taiwan
1972
Details Thailand
Iran 2–1
after extra time
Korea Republic
Thailand 2–2
after extra time
(5–3)
on penalties
Khmer Republic
1976
Details Iran
Iran 1–0
Kuwait
China PR 1–0
Iraq
1980
Details Kuwait
Kuwait 3–0
Korea Republic
Iran 3–0
Korea DPR
1984
Details Singapore
Saudi Arabia 2–0
China PR
Kuwait 1–1
(5–3)
on penalties
Iran
1988
Details Qatar
Saudi Arabia 0–0
after extra time
(4–3)
on penalties
Korea Republic
Iran 0–0
after extra time
(3–0)
on penalties
China PR
1992
Details Japan
Japan 1–0
Saudi Arabia
China PR 1–1
(4–3)
on penalties
United Arab Emirates
1996
Details United Arab Emirates
Saudi Arabia 0–0
after extra time
(4–2)
on penalties
United Arab Emirates
Iran 1–1
(3–2)
on penalties
Kuwait
2000
Details Lebanon
Japan 1–0
Saudi Arabia
Korea Republic 1–0
China PR
2004
Details China
Japan 3–1
China PR
Iran 4–2
Bahrain
2007
Details Indonesia
Malaysia
Thailand
Vietnam
Iraq 1–0
Saudi Arabia
Korea Republic 0–0
after extra time
(6–5)
on penalties
Japan
2011
Details Qatar


[edit] 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
the AFC asian cup hosted in Beirut, Lebanon



[edit] Performances by host nations
Year Host nation Finish
1956 Hong Kong Third place
1960 Korea Republic Champions
1964 Israel Champions
1968 Iran Champions
1972 Thailand Third place
1976 Iran Champions
1980 Kuwait Champions
1984 Singapore Group stage
1988 Qatar Group stage
1992 Japan Champions
1996 United Arab Emirates Runner-up
2000 Lebanon Group stage
2004 China PR Runner-up
2007 Vietnam
Indonesia
Thailand
Malaysia Quarter-final
Group stage
Group stage
Group stage


[edit] Best performances by region
Federation (Region) Best performance
WAFF (West Asia) 8 titles, won by Iran (3), Saudi Arabia (3), Kuwait (1), Iraq (1)
EAFF (East Asia) 5 titles, won by Japan (3), Korea Republic (2)
AFF (Southeast Asia) Runner-up (Myanmar, 1968)
SAFF (Central and South Asia) Runner-up (India, 1964)


[edit] Awards

[edit] Most Valuable Players
Year Player
1984 Jia Xiuquan
1988 Kim Joo-Sung
1992 Kazuyoshi Miura
1996 Khodadad Azizi
2000 Hiroshi Nanami
2004 Shunsuke Nakamura
2007 Younis Mahmoud


[edit] Top scorers
Year Player Goals
1956 Nahum Stelmach 4
1960 Cho Yoon-Ok 4
1964 Mordechai Spiegler 2
1968 Homayoun Behzadi
Giora Spiegel
Moshe Romano 4
1972 Park Ee-Chon 6
1976 Nasser Nouraei
Gholam Hossein Mazloomi
Fatehi Kamil 3
1980 Behtash Fariba
Choi Soon-Ho 7
1984 Jia Xiuquan
Nasser Mohammadkhani
Shahrokh Baiani 3
1988 Lee Tae-Ho 3
1992 Fahad Al-Bishi 3
1996 Ali Daei 8
2000 Lee Dong-Gook 6
2004 A'ala Hubail
Ali Karimi 5
2007 Younis Mahmoud 4


[edit] Records and statistics

[edit] Overall top goalscorers
Goals Scorers
14 Ali Daei
10 Lee Dong-Gook
9 Naohiro Takahara
8 Jassem Al Houwaidi
7 Choi Soon-Ho, Behtash Fariba, Hossein Kalani
6 Yasser Al-Qahtani
5 Younis Mahmoud


[edit] Most tournaments appeared
The tabulated below is the players who had appeared more than four times in the history of tournament.

Player App. Years
Mahdi Mahdavikia 4 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007
Li Ming 4 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004
Adnan Al-Talyani 4 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996


[edit] AFC Asian Cup winning managers
Year Head coach Champions
1956 Lee Yoo-Hyung Korea Republic
1960 Wui Hye-Deok Korea Republic
1964 Gyula Mándi Israel
1968 Mahmoudi Bayati Iran
1972 Mohamed Ranjbar Iran
1976 Heshmat Mohajerani Iran
1980 Carlos Alberto Parreira Kuwait
1984 Khalil Al-Zayani Saudi Arabia
1988 Carlos Alberto Parreira Saudi Arabia
1992 Hans Ooft Japan
1996 Nelo Vingada Saudi Arabia
2000 Philippe Troussier Japan
2004 Zico Japan
2007 Jorvan Vieira Iraq


[edit] Score
Most goals scored in one match, one team: Iran 8–0 South Yemen in 1976
Most goals scored in one match, both teams: Japan 8–1 Uzbekistan in 2000.

[edit] Participating nations
Participating nations by number of final tournament appearances:

11 times
Iran
Korea Republic
9 times
China PR
8 times
Kuwait
7 times
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
6 times
Iraq
Japan
Thailand
4 times
Indonesia
Israel
Syria
Uzbekistan
3 times
Bahrain
Hong Kong
Malaysia
2 times
Chinese Taipei
India
Korea DPR
Oman
South Vietnam
1 time
Australia
Bangladesh
Myanmar
Cambodia
Jordan
Lebanon
Singapore
Vietnam
Turkmenistan



[edit] References and footnotes
^ a b c d e f g h Final tournaments in round-robin format

[edit] External links
Official Website for 2007 AFC Asian Cup
RSSSF archive
International football v • d • e
FIFA | World Cup | Confederations Cup | U-20 World Cup | U-17 World Cup | Olympics | Asian Games | All-Africa Games | Pan American Games | Island Games | World Rankings | Player of the Year | Teams | Codes


Asia: AFC – Asian Cup
Africa: CAF – Africa Cup of Nations
North America: CONCACAF – Gold Cup
South America: CONMEBOL – Copa América
Oceania: OFC – Nations Cup
Europe: UEFA – European Championship
Non-FIFA: NF-Board – VIVA World Cup

AFC Asian Cup v • d • e
Hong Kong 1956 | South Korea 1960 | Israel 1964 | Iran 1968 | Thailand 1972 | Iran 1976 | Kuwait 1980 | Singapore 1984 | Qatar 1988 | Japan 1992 | U.A.E. 1996 | Lebanon 2000 | China 2004 | Indonesia/Malaysia/Thailand/Vietnam 2007 | Qatar 2011


AFC Asian Cup squads v • d • e
Japan 1992 | United Arab Emirates 1996 | Lebanon 2000 | China 2004 | Indonesia/Malaysia/Thailand/Vietnam 2007


AFC football v • d • e
Asian Cup | Challenge Cup | Youth Championship | U-17 Championship | Futsal Championship


AFC clubs football v • d • e
Champions League | Cup | President's Cup | Cup Winners Cup (defunct) | Super Cup (defunct)


AFC women's football v • d • e
Asian Cup | U-19 Championship | U-17 Championship