We are now just over a week away from the 2024 Asian Cup; well, technically speaking, it's the 2023 edition of the competition, but it is being played in 2024 to accommodate Qatar's intense summer heat and involvement in the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Whether it's in the correct year or not, this edition promises to be the best yet, with several different teams vying to take the crown atop Qatar's head.
Will Japan get their revenge, can Son Heung-min lead South Korea to glory, or will one of the Middle Eastern states win it close to home?
With that in mind, Football FanCast has collected everything you could want to know ahead of the tournament and put it into one handy place, so you'll be ahead of the game when it all kicks off in January.
Asian Cup 2023 opening ceremony
As we said, the first game of the 2023 edition of the Asian Cup will be taking place in January 2024, on 12th January, to be exact.
The tournament's opener will feature the hosts, Qatar, taking on Lebanon, who hosted the tournament back in 2000 and will be making only their third appearance in the finals.
Considering Qatar's appearance at the World Cup and their tournament success in 2019, the hosts will be the firm favourites for this one.
Asian Cup 2023 final
The tournament's showpiece event – the target the players will be training hard to reach and the reason so many fans dream, is the final.
The final of the 2023 Asian Cup takes place on 10th February 2024, so almost a month after it all kicks off.
The game will be held in Qatar's Lusail Stadium, which was the venue that hosted the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France.
If the game is anything like that one, the fans will be in for a real treat.
Asian Cup 2023 hosts
The host for the latest installment of the Asian Cup is the last edition's winner, Qatar. Simple enough, right? Well, no, not really.
The original host nation, announced back in June 2019, was China. The Chinese were supposed to host the tournament in the summer of 2023.
However, following the outbreak of the pandemic and the government's extremely strict policy, the AFC announced that China would no longer host the competition.
A new round of bidding was opened, which saw Australia, South Korea, Indonesia and Qatar all throw their hats in the ring. However, the Australians and Indonesians soon withdrew their submissions, and with just two nations left, the AFC awarded the competition to Qatar.
However, with the Middle Eastern state enduring sweltering summers, the competition was subsequently moved to January, which also made space for them to enter the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The qualified teams for the Asian Cup 2023
Qatar
Iraq
Bahrain
India
Japan
United Arab Emirates
Syria
Tajikistan
Iran
Oman
Palestine
Thailand
South Korea
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Malaysia
Australia
China
Kyrgyzstan
Hong Kong
Saudi Arabia
Jordan
Lebanon
Indonesia
The Asian Cup will see 24 teams take part – 23 of whom had to go through qualifying to get there, while the hosts were given an automatic berth.
Interestingly, while Qatar are set to host the 2023 edition of the tournament, they weren't announced as such until summer 2022, a full year after they had qualified through the same method as everyone else.
China, who were the original hosts, also gained their place through the qualifiers as they were no longer granted automatic passage to the finals.
However, the first team to officially qualify for the finals was Japan, who did so in May 2021 – dead simple, right?
The final team to secure their place in Qatar was Indonesia, who did so in June 2022.
The top scorer in Asian Cup 2023 qualifying
Ali Mabkhout
United Arab Emirates
11
Eldor Shomurodov
Uzbekistan
10
Takumi Minamino
Japan
9
Yousef Nasser
Kuwait
9
Wu Lei
China
8
Yuya
Osako
8
The qualification for the Asian Cup is a long and arduous process, with the lower-ranked teams having to go through an extra round of qualifying, while teams like South Korea and Japan enter the conversation in the second round.
The qualification process began in June 2019 and concluded in June 2022, three years later. Granted, these qualifiers also decide which nations progress in the World Cup qualifiers, and there was a global pandemic midway through, so that's pretty good going.
With so many games going on, there are often a fair few players who end up with a healthy goal haul at the end of it all.
The top scorer in this edition's qualifiers was Ali Mabkhout, who found the back of the net 11 times for the United Arab Emirates. Coming in second place was Uzbekistan's Eldor Shomurodov with ten goals.
Japan's Takumi Minamino and Kuwait's Yousef Nasser came in as the joint-third-highest scorers with nine each.
Asian Cup 2023 draw
Qatar
Australia
Iran
Japan
South Korea
Saudi Arabia
China
Uzbekistan
United Arab Emirates
Indonesia
Malaysia
Thailand
Tajikistan
Syria
Hong Kong
Iraq
Jordan
Kyrgyzstan
Lebanon
India
Palestine
Vietnam
Bahrain
Oman
The draw for the Asian Cup took place on 11th May 2023, and while the competition's seeding has meant that there aren't any huge clashes in the group stages, there are still some intriguing games for fans to get excited about.
For example, the opening game of the tournament should be an interesting one, as hosts Qatar take on fellow Middle Eastern side Lebanon, while Australia play India the following day.
Qatar's third group game should be a good watch as well as they play the would-be hosts, China.
One benefit of the seeding, however, is that we could see some early giant-killings if we're lucky.
Premier League players going to the Asian Cup
While the world's focus will be on the teams as a whole in this tournament – as it should be – we're sure a fair few of you will be looking out for your side's players out in Qatar, so which Premier League players are heading to the Middle East in the new year?
Surprisingly, there are only six players from the English top-flight who may be involved in the competition, but they are quite important ones.
Brentford will have to make do without Saman Ghoddos as he flies out with Iran, while Wolverhampton Wanderers will be without South Korea star Hwang Hee-chan.
Three Japanese players could be leaving these shores for a month: Arsenal's Takehiro Tomiyasu, Brighton & Hove Albion's Kaoru Mitoma and Liverpool's Wataru Endo.
However, it's probably Tottenham Hotspur who will be most impacted by the tournament as they will have to make do without their captain, Son Heung-min, and he could be gone for longer than some of the others given the strength of South Korea's team.
AFC Asian Cup 2023: Every Premier League & Scottish Premiership player going
With the AFC Asian Cup 2023 now upon us, FFC takes a look at which players from the Premier League and Scottish Premiership will feature.
ByLuke RandallJan 2, 2024 Asian Cup champions
The reigning champions of the Asian Cup are the hosts for this edition, Qatar.
The Middle Eastern state came up against tournament heavyweights Japan in the 2019 final, and while they had been impressive on their journey to the match, nobody really expected them to beat the Japanese; after all, they had never lost an Asian Cup final.
However, two goals in the first half gave the underdogs something to defend in the second. That said, they actually ended up adding a third in the second 45 thanks to a late penalty.
The game ended 3-1, and Qatar won their first major honour in international football.
Can they do it again in 2024?
The favourites for the Asian Cup
They might have lost the final in 2019, and in a fairly convincing manner, but it is hard to look past this Japan team at the moment. The Samurai Blue have won all six of their recent games, scoring 24 goals and conceding just five along the way.
They haven't been playing minnows, either – beating Germany, Canada and Peru by a scoreline of 4-1 while putting six past El Salvador and beating Turkey 4-2.
South Korea will also head into the competition full of confidence, as with players like Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan, Kim Min-jae, and Lee Kang-in, they can beat anyone on their day.
Australia will fancy their chances as well after a strong showing at the Qatar World Cup, which saw them make it out of the group and put up a decent fight against Argentina in the round of 16.
Finally, the hosts, Qatar, have to get a look-in as well. They were able to stun the world and lift the trophy away from home in 2019, so who is to say they can't do it again in front of their own fans – and with the experience of the World Cup behind them.
The most successful country in Asian Cup history
Japan
4
2011, 2004, 2000, 1992
Saudi Arabia
3
1996, 1988, 1984
Iran
3
1976, 1972, 1968
South Korea
2
1960, 1956
Israel
1
1964
Kuwait
1
1980
Australia
1
2015
Iraq
1
2007
Qatar
1
2019
Japan have won the Asian Cup more than any other nation, with a genuinely impressive four wins under their belts, and it probably should have been five were it not for Qatar's heroics four years ago.
Their last triumph came in 2011 when they beat Australia 1-0 in extra time courtesy of a Tadanari Lee goal.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are the second-most successful nations in the Asian Cup, with both countries claiming three titles. Iran's most recent success came in 1976, whereas Saudi Arabia last won it all in 1996.
The third-most decorated team in Asian Cup history is South Korea, although they haven't won the trophy since 1960, so they are certainly due a win.
There are five countries with one title to their name.
How to watch the Asian Cup on UK TV
Unfortunately, for fans in the UK, there are very few options for watching the AFC Asian Cup next year; in fact, as things stand, there is only one.
According to the official AFC website, fans in the UK can watch the action on Triller's subscription streaming service, FITE.
As we get closer to the start of the tournament, more options might become available, but as things stand, you will need an account with FITE to watch the AFC Asian Cup.
