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The 2019 AFC Asian Cup will be the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It will be held in United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 February 2019.[1] The United Arab Emirates was announced as the host for the tournament on 9 March 2015, with Iran being the only remaining bidder for the right to host the 2019 finals.[2] It will be the second time that the United Arab Emirates hosts the tournament after the 1996 finals.
For the first time, the Asian Cup final tournament will be contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format that was used from 2004 to 2015.[3] Under this new format, the finalists will contest a group stage consisting of six groups of four teams, followed by a knockout stage of 16 teams.[4] The host nation will automatically qualify for the final tournament, while the remaining 23 places will be determined among the other 45 national teams through a qualifying competition, running from March 2015 to March 2018, in which the first two rounds also served as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process for the AFC.
Australia are the defending champions going into the tournament, having won the previous competition in 2015. The winner of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup will earn the right to participate in the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup which is to be hosted by a yet to be determined AFC association after 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts, Qatar, lost the rights.[5] The 2021 Confederations Cup host country will have already qualified as hosts. If this country wins the Asian Cup, the runner-up will qualify.
The bidding procedure and timeline for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup was approved at the AFC congress on 28 November 2012.[6] The winning bid was originally set to be announced at an AFC congress in June, then November 2014.[7] However, at its 60th Anniversary celebrations at the end of 2014, AFC gave the date of 'summer 2015' to when an announcement would be made.[8]
In January 2015, AFC general secretary Alex Soosay said that Iran and the United Arab Emirates were the only two remaining bidders for the 2019 Asian Cup, and that the eventual hosts would be announced in March 2015.[2]
On 9 March 2015, AFC announced the hosts during an AFC Executive Committee meeting in Manama, Bahrain.[9]
The 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification process will determine the 24 participating teams for the tournament. In 2014, a proposal to merge the preliminary qualification rounds of the FIFA World Cup with those of the AFC Asian Cup was ratified by the AFC Competitions Committee.[3] The new qualification structure will take place in three stages, with the first two merging with the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification.[3] In the first round, the lowest ranked teams played home-and-away over two legs to reduce the total number of teams to 40. In the second round, the 40 teams were divided into eight groups of five to play home-and-away round-robin matches, where the eight group winners and the four best group runners-up will qualify for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals. In the third round, the next best 24 teams eliminated from second round were divided into six groups of four and compete for the remaining slots of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.[10]
The first qualifying round of the qualification took place on 12 March 2015, with the final match of the third round expected to take place on 27 March 2018.[11][12]
Only the hosts will receive an automatic qualification spot, the other 23 teams will qualify through a qualification tournament. At the finals, the 24 teams will be drawn into six groups of four teams each. The teams in each group play a single round robin. After the group stage, the top two teams and the four best third teams will advance to the round of 16. The winners will advance to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinals. The semifinal winners will play in final. The format is exactly the one which was applied to the 1986, 1990, and 1994 FIFA World Cups, except for the absence of a third place play-off.
Draw
The draw of the final tournament will be held on 27 April 2018. The 24 teams will be drawn into six groups of four teams.
Each team must register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 24.4 and 24.5).[4]
Schedule
Zayed Sports City Stadium, one of three stadiums in Abu Dhabi, will stage both the opening match and the final. The match schedule itself will maximise the use of venues. At least five matches will be allocated to each venue, with every ground hosting at least one match in the knockout stage. The semi-finals will be played on different days in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. No city will host two matches on the same day – except in the final round of group stage matches when simultaneous kick-off is required. Unlike previous editions of the tournament, there will be no third/fourth place game.[13]
Group stage
The top two teams of each group and the four best third-placed teams advance to the round of 16.
Tiebreakers
Teams are 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 are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3):[4]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
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);
The official logo of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup was unveiled on 23 January 2017 in Abu Dhabi during the drawing ceremony for the third round of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification.[14] The colors used in the logo were derived from the flag of the UAE. The seven hexagons formed by colored ribbons represents the seven emirates of the host country. The interlacing hexagon pattern of the logo was inspired from Islamic art, as well as the old Emirati tradition of using palm leaves, locally known as saf, in weaving. The outer circle along with the geometric design within it symbolizes the sport of football.[15]
Concerns and controversies
Poor attendance records have been seen as a problem for the UAE in past tournaments, but Asian Cup officials are confident the tournament will attract significant numbers.[16]
United Arab Emirates
Qatar
South Korea
Japan
Thailand
Saudi Arabia
Australia
Uzbekistan
Iran
Syria
Iraq
China
Palestine
Oman
India
Lebanon
Turkmenistan
Jordan
Bahrain
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