Undisputedly, European football is the biggest. You might have also heard of South American cup (Copa America) but there are others, interesting enough, but smaller in rank. It’s AFC Cup and ACON in Africa. ACON will be held next year, and AFC Cup has just started.
This year AFC Cup is hosted by the United Arab Emirates and 24 teams will participate. It’s not a new competition on the calendar. It was founded 63 years ago and repeated every 4 years like other most popular events of its kind (apart of African ACON — every 2 years).
So far there were 8 countries that won the trophy lead by Japan (4 times) and Saudi Arabia & Iran (both 3 times). The previous winner was Australia and they won the cup for the first time in the history. They were also the host in 2015.
If you take a look at modern events (last 9 tournaments), it’s dominated by two countries — Japan (4 times winner) and Saudi Arabia (3 times winner). Their domination was broken by Australia and unexpected winner Iraq in 2007 playing in South East Asia where Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand co-hosted the event.
This year it’s in 4 cities of UAE (if you treat Sharjah as being a separate city from Dubai) and 8 stadiums ranging from 12 to 50 thousand capacity. The most prominent is Zayed Sports Stadium in Abu Dhabi with 43500 guests.
First time in the event there will be 6 groups and 24 teams (expanded from 16) that will advance to best of 16 round and a knock-out stage.
Teams this year by FIFA ranking are as follows:
Iran 29
Australia 41
Japan 50
South Korea 53
Saudi Arabia 69
Syria 74
China PR 76
United Arab Emirates 79
Lebanon 81
Oman 82
Iraq 88
Kyrgyzstan 91
Qatar 93
Uzbekistan 95
India 97
Palestine 99
Vietnam 100
Jordan 109
North Korea 109
Bahrain 113
Philippines 116
Thailand 118
Turkmenistan 127
Yemen 135
Rankings don’t play but they give some sort of indication where we are. In terms of possible winners, the biggest chances are for Iran, Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia but football is a beautiful game and always brings surprises.
The cup will be held from Jan 5 to Feb 1 and the final played in Abu Dhabi. We will definitely see some beautiful Asian football. For many players, it will be a chance to be exposed and advance in their career.
There might be also some fun to watch the underdogs: Palestine or Syria (that played really well in Russia 2018 qualifiers, only lost to Australia in playoffs in the extra time) & Qatar vs Saudi Arabia (heated game mostly for recent political reasons).
Check your local cable provider for more information. There will be some broadcasting especially if you live in Asia.
More information about schedule and event:
Tickets available on official AFC site:
