The 2011 AFC Asian Cup finals will be held in Qatar in January 2011.[1][2] It will be the fifteenth time the tournament has been held, and the second time it has been hosted by Qatar, the other being the 1988 AFC Asian Cup.
Qtel, the leading telecom company of Qatar, will be the sponsor of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, which was announced on 5 November 2008.[3]
Host selection
Qatar, India and Iran all lodged interest in hosting the 2011 AFC Asian Cup,[4] while Australia also considered making a late bid.[5] Qatar officially submitted their bid on 19 June 2007,[6] while India withdrew their interest and Iran failed to submit proper documentation for their bid on time.[7]
Qatar was announced as host nation on 29 July 2007, during the 2007 AFC Asian Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia. Due to FIFA regulations stating that confederation events can be hosted either in January or July, and July being peak summer heat in the Middle East, it was also announced that the tournament will be held in January of that year.[1][2]
The AFC announced that the host of the Asian Cup will be rotated to either East Asia or South East Asia for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.[8]
Venues
Members of the AFC Organising Committee for AFC Asian Cup 2011 have agreed the use of five stadiums for the 2011 tournament.[9]
The teams finishing first, second and third in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, and the host nation for the 2011 competition, receive automatic byes to Finals. They are joined by the top two finishers in each of five qualifying groups. The AFC Challenge Cup acts as a further qualification competition for eligible countries within the emerging and developing category of member associations. The winners of the AFC Challenge Cup competitions in 2008 and 2010 qualified automatically to the 2011 AFC Asian Cup Finals.
Qatar
Kuwait
China
Uzbekistan
Saudi Arabia
Japan
Jordan
Syria
South Korea
Australia
India
Bahrain
Germany
Monaco
Spain
Portugal
