The 2023 AFC Asian Cup was the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It involved 24 national teams after its expansion in 2019, with hosts Qatar the defending champions.

On 17 October 2022, the AFC announced that the tournament would be held in Qatar, replacing the original hosts China. Due to the high summer temperatures and Qatar's participation in the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the tournament was postponed to 12 January – 10 February 2024, while retaining the original name for both existing sponsorship and logistical purposes.

Hosts and defending champions Qatar successfully retained their title, defeating Jordan 3–1 in the final.

Host selection

China was acclaimed as the host country on 4 June 2019, as sole finishing bidder, days just prior to the 69th FIFA Congress in Paris, France. The tournament was originally scheduled to be held from 16 June to 16 July 2023. On 14 May 2022, the AFC announced that China would not host the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic and China's Zero-COVID policy. Due to China's relinquishment of its hosting rights, the AFC conducted a second round of bidding, with a deadline for submissions scheduled on 17 October 2022. Four nations submitted bids: Australia, Indonesia, Qatar, and South Korea. However, Australia subsequently withdrew in September 2022, as did Indonesia on 15 October. On 17 October, the AFC announced that Qatar had won the bid and would host the tournament.

Venues

Five host cities were submitted in the 2023 bid, including seven stadiums previously prepared for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. On 5 April 2023, the AFC announced the eight stadiums across four host cities for the tournament. On 21 August 2023, Lusail Stadium was added as a ninth venue. All but one (Stadium 974) of the host stadiums from the 2022 FIFA World Cup were selected for the tournament, along with Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, which hosted matches during the 2011 edition, and Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, which had not hosted any international tournament previously.

Lusail Stadium hosted the opening match on 12 January. Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan and Al Thumama Stadium in Doha hosted the semi-final matches, with Lusail hosted the final held on 10 February.

On 5 January 2024, the Main Media Centre for the coverage of the tournament was officially inaugurated in Msheireb Downtown Doha.

Teams

The first two rounds of qualification also served as the Asian qualification for the 2022 World Cup. Qatar, the host of the World Cup, participated only in the second round to qualify for the 2023 Asian Cup (which they were later selected as hosts for after China withdrew its hosting rights).

Qualified teams

Of the 24 teams appearing, 20 teams were returning after appearing in the 2019 edition.

Tajikistan were the only debutant in the competition, while Hong Kong marked their return for the first time in 56 years. Indonesia and Malaysia both qualified for the first time since hosting the 2007 AFC Asian Cup.

Four nations from the previous edition failed to qualify (North Korea, Turkmenistan, Yemen, and the Philippines). India was the only SAFF representative in this edition, while it was the first time that five teams from the AFF managed to reach the finals (Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam). Only two teams from WAFF failed to qualify for this tournament (Yemen and Kuwait). Iran meanwhile extended their qualification record; this was their fifteenth straight appearance in the tournament, having qualified for every edition since 1968.

Draw

The draw was held at the Katara Opera House in Doha on 11 May 2023.

Draw result

Teams were drawn into Groups A to F. For the first time in AFC Asian Cup history, the teams from lowest pots were drawn first but not assigned to the positions of their groups, following by number orders of the group stage, as in previous editions. Pot 1 teams were assigned to the first positions of their groups, while next the positions of all other teams were drawn separately from Pot 4 to 2 (for the purposes of determining the match schedules in each group).

The groups were confirmed following the draw:

Squads

Each team was required to registered a squad with a minimum of 18 players and a maximum of 23 players, at least three of whom had to be goalkeepers. In December 2023, the maximum was increased to 26 players.

Officiating

On 14 September 2023, the AFC announced the list of 33 referees, 37 assistant referees, two stand-by referees and eight stand-by assistant referees for the tournament, including two female referees and three female assistant referees. Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was used for the entire tournament following its implementation from the quarter-final stage onwards in the 2019 edition. The Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT) system, which utilized twelve specialized cameras and artificial intelligence, was also implemented at all 51 matches. This marked the first time that SAOT was in place at an AFC competition and made the AFC the first confederation to apply the system at the continental men's national team level.

Referees

Assistant referees

Stand-by referees

Stand-by assistant referees

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony, named "The Lost Chapter of Kelileh o Demneh" took place at Lusail Stadium, before the opening game between Qatar and Lebanon on 12 January 2024.

Group stage

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they played each other in the last round of the group;
8. Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
9. Drawing of lots.

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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Group E

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Group F

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Ranking of third-placed teams

The four best third-placed teams from the six groups advanced to the knockout stage along with the six group winners and six runners-up.

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.

Bracket

All times are local, AST (UTC+3).

Round of 16

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Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Final

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 132 goals scored in 51 matches, for an average of 2.59 goals per match.

8 goals

6 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Source: AFC

Discipline

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:

• Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences)
• Receiving two yellow cards in two matches
• After reaching the semi-finals, all yellow cards and red cards received are reset. This means that even if a player receives a yellow card in the semi-finals, any previous cards won't count, allowing them to participate in the final

The following suspensions occurred during the tournament:

Awards

Most Valuable Player

• Akram Afif

Top Goalscorer

• Akram Afif (8 goals)

Best Goalkeeper

• Meshaal Barsham

Fair Play Award

•  Qatar

Team of the Tournament

Additionally, AFC shortlisted 8 goals for users to vote on as the tournament's best. The award was won by Malaysia's Faisal Halim for his goal in the group stage match against South Korea.

Tournament rankings

Marketing

Logo and slogan

The official logo and TV opening of the tournament were launched during the final draw on 11 May 2023. The logo featured a silhouette of the AFC Asian Cup trophy, with the trophy lines inspired from feathers of a falcon and petals of the lotus flower. The top of the logo was colored in Qatar's national color, maroon, while the logo's tail featured an Arabic nuqta.

The tournament's slogan, "Hayya Asia", translating to "Let's go Asia!", was revealed on 5 October 2023 in an event to mark 100 days until the tournament.

Match ball

The official match ball, the VORTEXAC23 made by Kelme, was unveiled on 10 August 2023. The ball's design "incorporates Qatar’s maroon colours, echoing the nation’s identity, and mirrors the championship’s emblem at its centre". Technical assessments rigorously tested the ball's performance, ensuring its durability, quality, and readiness.

On 20 December 2023, the official match ball of the final, the VORTEXAC23+, was revealed. The ball built on the design of the VORTEXAC23 and used a predominantly gold and maroon colour scheme "to reflect the prestige of competing for the AFC Asian Cup title".

Official song

The official song of the tournament, "Hadaf" by Humood AlKhudher and Fahad Al Hajjaji, was released on 1 January 2024.

Mascots

On 2 December 2023, the tournament's official mascots were unveiled at Barahat Msheireb, Doha, through an anime-inspired animation produced by Katara Studios. The mascots were a family of five jerboas named Saboog, Tmbki, Freha, Zkriti and Traeneh, who were also the mascots of the 2011 edition when Qatar last hosted the tournament. The mascots were created by Qatari artist Ahmed Al Maadheed, with the animation directed by Fahad Al Kuwari and the song performed by Qatari artist Dana Al Meer and singer/composer Tarek Al Arabi Tourgane. Four of the five mascots were named after locations in Qatar, while Saboog was derived from the term used to refer to a jerboa in Qatar. The mascots were each created with different characteristics, akin to the different roles players undertake during a football match, and made to resemble a traditional household in Qatar.

Official video game

On 11 January 2024, Konami released a short trailer of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup game mode, and announced that it would be added to the latest release of its football video game series, eFootball 2024, in the upcoming updates. This mode features fully licensed tournament teams, licensed trophy and visuals.

eSports tournament

On 8 December 2023, the AFC announced that it would unveil the inaugural edition of AFC eAsian Cup, which was held from 1 to 5 February 2024. This eSports tournament was played on Konami's football video game - eFootball 2024. It marked the confederation's first foray into the world of eSports. Taking place at the Virtuocity eSports Arena in Doha, the event featured participants from twenty AFC member associations, who were competing in the Asian Cup.

On 6 February 2024, Indonesia won the first ever AFC eAsian Cup, winning 2–0 against Japan in the final.

Ticket sales

The first batch of tickets for the tournament, with more than 150,000 tickets, were sold out in just a week, since sales began on 10 October 2023. Another 90,000 tickets of the second batch were sold within the first 24 hours of being released on 19 November 2023. Fans from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, Indonesia and India bought the majority of tickets offered. In addition to the opening match between Qatar and Lebanon, the match between Saudi Arabia and Oman also led ticket sales.

Prices for match tickets started from as low as QAR 25 (approximately US$6.8) to enable greater access for the millions of fans.

On 20 November 2023, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the tournament announced that it would donate revenue from ticket sales to support emergency relief for Palestine, amidst the ongoing Israel–Hamas war.

On 10 January 2024, the LOC announced that nearly one million tickets had been sold for the tournament.

Ahead of the semi-final clash between Qatar and Iran, the Iranian federation complained of only 4 percent of the seats having been allocated to Iranian supporters, even though AFC regulations stated 8 percent needed to be allocated.

Prize money

Total prize money pool for the tournament was US$14,800,000, the same as it was in the 2019 edition. The champions received US$5 million, the runners-up received US$3 million, and the losing semi-finalists received US$1 million each. All 24 participating teams also received US$200,000 for their participation in the tournament.

Sponsorship

Official Global Partners

• Continental AG
• Credit Saison
• Neom
• Qatar Airways
• Visit Saudi
• Yili Group (Joyday,Cremo Thailand,Ambpoeial Yili,Inikin Yili)

Official Global Supporters

• Kelme
• Konami (eFootball)

Official Regional Partner

• KDDI Au (Japan)
• Kirin (Japan)
• Pepperstone (China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam)
• Visa (West Asia)

Official Hospitality Provider

• MATCH Hospitality (Asia)

Official Video and Data Distribution Partner

• Sportradar

Broadcasting rights

The broadcasters around the world that acquired the rights to the tournament included:

See also

• 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
• 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup
• 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup
• 2023 Africa Cup of Nations
• 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Notes

References

External links

• Official website (the-AFC.com)