2019 AFC Asian Cup

2019 AFC Asian Cup

كأس آسيا 2019
Tournament details
Host country	United Arab Emirates
Dates	5 January – 1 February
Teams	24 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	8 (in 4 host cities)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	36
Goals scored	96 (2.67 per match)
Attendance	370,287 (10,286 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Almoez Ali (7 goals)
← 2015 2023 → All statistics correct as of 17 January 2019.

The 2019 AFC Asian Cup is 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 is being held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 February 2019.

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. It is the second time that the United Arab Emirates hosts the tournament after the 1996 finals.

For the first time, the Asian Cup final tournament is contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format that was used from 2004 to 2015. 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. The host nation automatically qualified for the final tournament, while the remaining 23 places were 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. Given the 2021 Confederations Cup host country qualify as hosts, if the eventual host country also wins the Asian Cup, the Asian Cup runner-up will qualify.

Host selection

Main article: 2019 AFC Asian Cup bids

The bidding procedure and timeline for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup was approved at the AFC congress on 28 November 2012. The winning bid was originally set to be announced at an AFC congress in June, then November 2014. 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.

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.

On 9 March 2015, AFC announced the hosts during an AFC Executive Committee meeting in Manama, Bahrain.

Teams

  Qualified for Asian Cup

  Failed to qualify

  Disqualified or withdrew

  Not an AFC member

Qualification

Main article: 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification

The 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification process determined 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. The new qualification structure took place in three stages, with the first two merging with the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. 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 qualified 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 competed for the remaining slots of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. The first qualifying round of the qualification took place on 12 March 2015, and the final match of the third round took place on 27 March 2018.

Qualified teams

India, Syria, Thailand and Turkmenistan qualified to the tournament after being absent in several Asian Cup tournaments spanning from 2004 to 2015. Lebanon and Vietnam both qualified for the first time after hosting the tournaments, in 2000 and 2007 respectively. For Vietnam, this was the first time they qualified for the AFC Asian Cup as a unified nation, having participated as South Vietnam in the first two editions (1956 and 1960), outside of hosting the 2007 edition. This was also the first time Yemen qualified for the AFC Asian Cup as a unified country, due to FIFA and AFC categorizing the participation of South Yemen in the 1976 as a distinct record not related to Yemen, who succeeded North Yemen. In addition to Yemen, the Philippines and Kyrgyzstan also marked this edition as their first times to qualify for an Asian Cup.

Tajikistan, along with its fellow CAFA member nation Afghanistan, were the only two countries from their confederation who failed to qualify for the tournament. Iran qualified to the Asian Cup for the first time as a CAFA member, having qualified as part of the WAFF before. Malaysia and Indonesia were the only co-hosts of the 2007 edition that did not qualify for the Asian Cup, as Malaysia had ended their campaign in disaster with just one point out of six matches; while Indonesia was barred from entering the qualification due to tension inside the PSSI which led to FIFA suspension. Kuwait was the only Arab country not to qualify for the Asian Cup, as they were also barred from completing the qualification due to FIFA's sanction. India remained as the only South Asian team to qualify for the tournament. On 13 November 2018 Asian Football Confederation warned the Iranian government to stop meddling in the country's football association, otherwise it may face sanctions before Asian cup games start in January.

The following 24 teams qualified for the final tournament:

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance	December 2018 FIFA ranking
United Arab Emirates	Hosts	9 March 2015	10th	2015	Runners-up (1996)	79
Qatar	Second Round Group C winners	17 November 2015	10th	2015	Quarter-finals (2000, 2011)	93
South Korea	Second Round Group G winners	13 January 2016	14th	2015	Winners (1956, 1960)	53
Japan	Second Round Group E winners	24 March 2016	9th	2015	Winners (1992, 2000, 2004, 2011)	50
Thailand	Second Round Group F winners	24 March 2016	7th	2007	Third place (1972)	118
Saudi Arabia	Second Round Group A winners	24 March 2016	10th	2015	Winners (1984, 1988, 1996)	69
Australia	Second Round Group B winners	29 March 2016	4th	2015	Winners (2015)	41
Uzbekistan	Second Round Group H winners	29 March 2016	7th	2015	Fourth place (2011)	95
Iran	Second Round Group D winners	29 March 2016	14th	2015	Winners (1968, 1972, 1976)	29
Syria	Second Round Group E runners-up	29 March 2016	6th	2011	Group stage (1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2011)	74
Iraq	Second Round Group F runners-up	29 March 2016	9th	2015	Winners (2007)	88
China	Second Round Group C runners-up	29 March 2016	12th	2015	Runners-up (1984, 2004)	76
Palestine	Third Round Group D runners-up	10 October 2017	2nd	2015	Group stage (2015)	99
Oman	Third Round Group D winners	10 October 2017	4th	2015	Group stage (2004, 2007, 2015)	82
India	Third Round Group A winners	11 October 2017	4th	2011	Runners-up (1964)	97
Lebanon	Third Round Group B winners	10 November 2017	2nd	2000	Group stage (2000)	81
Turkmenistan	Third Round Group E runners-up	14 November 2017	2nd	2004	Group stage (2004)	127
Jordan	Third Round Group C winners	14 November 2017	4th	2015	Quarter-finals (2004, 2011)	109
Bahrain	Third Round Group E winners	14 November 2017	6th	2015	Fourth place (2004)	113
Vietnam	Third Round Group C runners-up	14 November 2017	4th	2007	Fourth place (19561, 19601)	100
Kyrgyzstan	Third Round Group A runners-up	22 March 2018	1st	Debut	None	91
North Korea	Third Round Group B runners-up	27 March 2018	5th	2015	Fourth place (1980)	109
Philippines	Third Round Group F winners	27 March 2018	1st	Debut	None	116
Yemen	Third Round Group F runners-up	27 March 2018	1st2	Debut	None	135

¹ As South Vietnam

² Yemen once qualified to the 1976 AFC Asian Cup as South Yemen, but according to FIFA and the AFC, the previous records of Yemen are registered as North Yemen instead.

Draw

The draw of the final tournament was held on 4 May 2018, 19:30 GST, at the Armani Hotel in the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The FIFA rankings of April 2018 were used as basis for the seeding. The 12 teams that secured their place in the final tournament by the end of the second round of the qualification process were placed in Pots 1 and 2 while the remaining teams which qualified during the third round were allocated to the remaining pots. As hosts, the United Arab Emirates were seeded into Pot 1. The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four teams, with the hosts placed in position A1. Four renowned Asian players: Ali Daei, Sun Jihai, Sunil Chhetri and Phil Younghusband were chosen to draw the teams.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
United Arab Emirates (81) (hosts) Iran (36) Australia (40) Japan (60) South Korea (61) Saudi Arabia (70)	China (73) Syria (76) Uzbekistan (88) Iraq (88) Qatar (101) Thailand (122)	Kyrgyzstan (75) Lebanon (82) Palestine (83) Oman (87) India (97) Vietnam (103)	North Korea (112) Philippines (113) Bahrain (116) Jordan (117) Yemen (125) Turkmenistan (129)

Final draw

Teams were drawn consecutively into Group A to F. Teams from each pot were assigned to the positions of their groups following by number orders of group stage, for example Pot 1 team were assigned to A1, and continued.

The draw resulted in the following groups:

Group A Pos Team A1 United Arab Emirates A2 Thailand A3 India A4 Bahrain

Group B Pos Team B1 Australia B2 Syria B3 Palestine B4 Jordan

Group C Pos Team C1 South Korea C2 China C3 Kyrgyzstan C4 Philippines

Group D Pos Team D1 Iran D2 Iraq D3 Vietnam D4 Yemen

Group E Pos Team E1 Saudi Arabia E2 Qatar E3 Lebanon E4 North Korea

Group F Pos Team F1 Japan F2 Uzbekistan F3 Oman F4 Turkmenistan

Match officials

On 5 December 2018, the AFC announced the list of 30 referees, 30 assistant referees, two stand-by referees and two stand-by assistant referees, including one referee and two assistant referees from CONCACAF for the tournament. Video assistant referees (VAR) will be used from the quarter-finals onwards. In each match, the referee and his assistants are accompanied by two additional assistant referees stationed next to each team's goalpost.

Referees

• Chris Beath
• Peter Green
• Nawaf Shukralla
• Fu Ming
• Ma Ning
• Liu Kwok Man

• Alireza Faghani
• Ali Sabah
• Mohanad Qasim Eesee Sarray
• Jumpei Iida
• Hiroyuki Kimura
• Ryuji Sato

• Ahmed Al-Ali
• Adham Makhadmeh
• Kim Dong-jin
• Ko Hyung-jin
• Mohd Amirul Izwan Yaacob
• César Arturo Ramos

• Ahmed Al-Kaf
• Abdulrahman Al-Jassim
• Khamis Al-Kuwari
• Khamis Al-Marri
• Turki Al-Khudhayr
• Muhammad Taqi

• Hettikamkanamge Perera
• Ammar Al-Jeneibi
• Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed
• Ravshan Irmatov
• Valentin Kovalenko
• Ilgiz Tantashev

Assistant referees

• Matthew Cream
• Anton Shchetinin
• Mohamed Salman
• Yaser Tulefat
• Cao Yi
• Huo Weiming

• Mohammadreza Mansouri
• Reza Sokhandan
• Jun Mihara
• Hiroshi Yamauchi
• Mohammad Al-Kalaf
• Ahmad Al-Roalle

• Park Sang-jun
• Yoon Kwang-yeol
• Sergei Grishchenko
• Mohd Yusri Muhamad
• Mohamad Zainal Abidin
• Miguel Hernández

• Alberto Morín
• Abu Bakar Al-Amri
• Rashid Al-Ghaithi
• Saud Al-Maqaleh
• Taleb Al-Marri
• Mohammed Al-Abakry

• Ronnie Koh Min Kiat
• Palitha Hemathunga
• Mohamed Al-Hammadi
• Hasan Al-Mahri
• Abdukhamidullo Rasulov
• Jakhongir Saidov

Stand-by referees

• Nivon Robesh Gamini

• Hanna Hattab

Stand-by assistant referees

• Ali Ubaydee

• Priyanga Palliya Guruge

Squads

Main article: 2019 AFC Asian Cup squads

Each team must register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers.

Venues

After being awarded the bid, initially the UAE chose six stadiums to host the tournament. The six stadiums were Zayed Sports City Stadium and Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium and Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, and Dubai's Al Ahli Stadium and DSC Stadium. Later, two stadiums in Dubai were dropped due to financial problems and were replaced by Al Maktoum Stadium and Rashid Stadium, which were also located in Dubai.

After the 2015 Asian Cup, the AFC agreed to increase the number of teams from 16 to 24, following the UEFA Euro 2016. Hence, more stadiums were about to be chosen and rebuilt, in which Sharjah and Abu Dhabi won the rights to have more stadiums for the tournament. Sharjah Stadium and Al Nahyan Stadium were chosen aftermath, finalized the number of stadium to eight.

The eight venues used are Zayed Sports City Stadium, Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium, and Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium and Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, Al Maktoum Stadium and Rashid Stadium in Dubai, and Sharjah Stadium in Sharjah.

Abu Dhabi
Zayed Sports City Stadium	Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium	Al Nahyan Stadium
Capacity: 45,000 (expanded)	Capacity: 42,056 (expanded)	Capacity: 12,201 (expanded)
Dubai	Abu Dhabi Sharjah Dubai Al Ain
Rashid Stadium
Capacity: 12,000 (expanded)
Dubai
Al Maktoum Stadium
Capacity: 15,058 (renovated)
Al Ain		Sharjah
Hazza bin Zayed Stadium	Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium	Sharjah Stadium
Capacity: 25,965	Capacity: 16,009 (expanded)	Capacity: 11,073 (expanded)
File:Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium-1600x508.jpg		File:Sharjah Stadium.jpg

Format

The tournament was expanded to 24 teams from the previous format of 16 teams, which had been used since 2004. Only the hosts will receive an automatic qualification spot, while 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 knockout stage, beginning with the round of 16. For the first time since a knockout stage was added to the competition in 1972, there will be no third place play-off. The format is exactly the one which was applied to UEFA Euro 2016, and is similar to the format of the 1986, 1990, and 1994 FIFA World Cups, except that the World Cup included a third place play-off.

Schedule

File:2019 AFC Asian Cup opening ceremony 1.jpg

Opening ceremony before first group match.

The AFC announced the official match schedule on 7 May 2018. 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.

Group stage

The top two teams of each group and the four best third-placed teams advanced to the round of 16.

All times are local, GST (UTC+4).

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 met 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

File:2019 AFC UAE vs India.jpg

Zayed Sports City Stadium during the India vs United Arab Emirates match.

Main article: 2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United Arab Emirates (H)	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2	5	Advance to knockout stage
2	Thailand	3	1	1	1	3	5	−2	4
3	Bahrain	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
4	India	3	1	0	2	4	4	0	3

Source: AFC
(H) Hosts
Notes:

5 January 2019 (2019-01-05)

20:00

United Arab Emirates	1–1	Bahrain
Khalil 88' (pen.)	Report	Al Romaihi 78'

Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 33,878

Referee: Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan)

6 January 2019 (2019-01-06)

17:30

Thailand	1–4	India
Teerasil 33'	Report	Chhetri 27' (pen.), 46' Thapa 68' Lalpekhlua 80'

Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 3,250

Referee: Liu Kwok Man (Hong Kong)

---

10 January 2019 (2019-01-10)

15:00

Bahrain	0–1	Thailand
	Report	Chanathip 58'

Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 2,720

Referee: Chris Beath (Australia)

10 January 2019 (2019-01-10)

20:00

India	0–2	United Arab Emirates
	Report	Khalf. Mubarak 41' Mabkhout 88'

Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 43,206

Referee: César Ramos (Mexico)

---

14 January 2019 (2019-01-14)

20:00

United Arab Emirates	1–1	Thailand
Mabkhout 7'	Report	Thitipan 41'

Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 17,809

Referee: Ryuji Sato (Japan)

14 January 2019 (2019-01-14)

20:00

India	0–1	Bahrain
	Report	Rashid 90+1' (pen.)

Sharjah Stadium, Sharjah

Attendance: 11,417

Referee: Ilgiz Tantashev (Uzbekistan)

Group B

Australia vs. Syria

Main article: 2019 AFC Asian Cup Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Jordan	3	2	1	0	3	0	+3	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Australia	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6
3	Palestine	3	0	2	1	0	3	−3	2
4	Syria	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3	1

Source: AFC

6 January 2019 (2019-01-06)

15:00

Australia	0–1	Jordan
	Report	Bani Yaseen 26'

Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 4,934

Referee: Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman)

6 January 2019 (2019-01-06)

20:00

Syria	0–0	Palestine
	Report

Sharjah Stadium, Sharjah

Attendance: 8,471

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

---

10 January 2019 (2019-01-10)

17:30

Jordan	2–0	Syria
Al-Taamari 26' Khattab 43'	Report

Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 9,152

Referee: Kim Dong-jin (South Korea)

11 January 2019 (2019-01-11)

15:00

Palestine	0–3	Australia
	Report	Maclaren 18' Mabil 20' Giannou 90'

Rashid Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 11,915

Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)

---

15 January 2019 (2019-01-15)

17:30

Australia	3–2	Syria
Mabil 41' Ikonomidis 54' Rogic 90+3'	Report	Kharbin 43' Al Somah 80' (pen.)

Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 10,492

Referee: César Ramos (Mexico)

15 January 2019 (2019-01-15)

17:30

Palestine	0–0	Jordan
	Report

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 20,843

Referee: Mohanad Qassim (Iraq)

Group C

Main article: 2019 AFC Asian Cup Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	3	3	0	0	4	0	+4	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	China	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6
3	Kyrgyzstan	3	1	0	2	4	4	0	3
4	Philippines	3	0	0	3	1	7	−6	0

Source: AFC

7 January 2019 (2019-01-07)

15:00

China	2–1	Kyrgyzstan
Matyash 50' (o.g.) Yu Dabao 78'	Report	Israilov 42'

Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 1,839

Referee: Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed (United Arab Emirates)

7 January 2019 (2019-01-07)

17:30

South Korea	1–0	Philippines
Hwang Ui-jo 67'	Report

Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 3,185

Referee: Nawaf Shukralla (Bahrain)

---

11 January 2019 (2019-01-11)

17:30

Philippines	0–3	China
	Report	Wu Lei 40', 66' Yu Dabao 80'

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 16,013

Referee: Hiroyuki Kimura (Japan)

11 January 2019 (2019-01-11)

20:00

Kyrgyzstan	0–1	South Korea
	Report	Kim Min-jae 41'

Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 4,893

Referee: Khamis Al-Marri (Qatar)

---

16 January 2019 (2019-01-16)

17:30

South Korea	2–0	China
Hwang Ui-jo 14' (pen.) Kim Min-jae 51'	Report

Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 13,579

Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)

16 January 2019 (2019-01-16)

17:30

Kyrgyzstan	3–1	Philippines
Lux 24', 51', 77'	Report	Schröck 80'

Rashid Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 4,217

Referee: Turki Al-Khudhayr (Saudi Arabia)

Group D

Iran vs. Yemen

Main article: 2019 AFC Asian Cup Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	3	2	1	0	7	0	+7	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Iraq	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7
3	Vietnam	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
4	Yemen	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

Source: AFC

7 January 2019 (2019-01-07)

20:00

Iran	5–0	Yemen
Taremi 12', 25' Dejagah 23' Azmoun 53' Ghoddos 78'	Report

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 5,301

Referee: Ryuji Sato (Japan)

8 January 2019 (2019-01-08)

17:30

Iraq	3–2	Vietnam
M. Ali 35' Tariq 60' Adnan 90'	Report	Faez 24' (o.g.) Nguyễn Công Phượng 42'

Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 4,779

Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)

---

12 January 2019 (2019-01-12)

15:00

Vietnam	0–2	Iran
	Report	Azmoun 38', 69'

Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 10,841

Referee: Muhammad Taqi (Singapore)

12 January 2019 (2019-01-12)

17:30

Yemen	0–3	Iraq
	Report	M. Ali 11' Resan 19' Abbas 90+1'

Sharjah Stadium, Sharjah

Attendance: 9,757

Referee: Fu Ming (China PR)

---

16 January 2019 (2019-01-16)

20:00

Vietnam	2–0	Yemen
Nguyễn Quang Hải 38' Quế Ngọc Hải 64' (pen.)	Report

Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 8,237

Referee: Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman)

16 January 2019 (2019-01-16)

20:00

Iran	0–0	Iraq
	Report

Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 15,038

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

Group E

Main article: 2019 AFC Asian Cup Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Qatar	3	3	0	0	10	0	+10	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Saudi Arabia	3	2	0	1	6	2	+4	6
3	Lebanon	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
4	North Korea	3	0	0	3	1	14	−13	0

Source: AFC

8 January 2019 (2019-01-08)

20:00

Saudi Arabia	4–0	North Korea
Bahebri 28' Al-Fatil 37' Al-Dawsari 70' Al-Muwallad 87'	Report

Rashid Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 5,075

Referee: Peter Green (Australia)

9 January 2019 (2019-01-09)

20:00

Qatar	2–0	Lebanon
Al-Rawi 65' Ali 79'	Report

Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 7,847

Referee: Ma Ning (China PR)

---

12 January 2019 (2019-01-12)

20:00

Lebanon	0–2	Saudi Arabia
	Report	Al-Muwallad 12' Al-Mogahwi 67'

Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 13,792

Referee: Ali Sabah (Iraq)

13 January 2019 (2019-01-13)

15:00

North Korea	0–6	Qatar
	Report	Ali 9', 11', 55', 60' Khoukhi 43' A. Hassan 68'

Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 452

Referee: Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka)

---

17 January 2019 (2019-01-17)

20:00

Saudi Arabia	0–2	Qatar
	Report	Ali 45+1', 80'

Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 16,067

Referee: Kim Dong-jin (South Korea)

17 January 2019 (2019-01-17)

20:00

Lebanon	4–1	North Korea
F. Michel Melki 27' El-Helwe 65', 90+8' Maatouk 80' (pen.)	Report	Pak Kwang-ryong 9'

Sharjah Stadium, Sharjah

Attendance: 4,332

Referee: Chris Beath (Australia)

Group F

Japan vs. Turkmenistan

Main article: 2019 AFC Asian Cup Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	3	3	0	0	6	3	+3	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Uzbekistan	3	2	0	1	7	3	+4	6
3	Oman	3	1	0	2	4	4	0	3
4	Turkmenistan	3	0	0	3	3	10	−7	0

Source: AFC

9 January 2019 (2019-01-09)

15:00

Japan	3–2	Turkmenistan
Osako 56', 60' Dōan 71'	Report	Amanow 26' Ataýew 79' (pen.)

Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 5,725

Referee: Alireza Faghani (Iran)

9 January 2019 (2019-01-09)

17:30

Uzbekistan	2–1	Oman
Ahmedov 34' Shomurodov 85'	Report	Mu. Al-Ghassani 72'

Sharjah Stadium, Sharjah

Attendance: 9,424

Referee: Ko Hyung-jin (South Korea)

---

13 January 2019 (2019-01-13)

17:30

Oman	0–1	Japan
	Report	Haraguchi 28' (pen.)

Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 12,110

Referee: Mohd Amirul Izwan Yaacob (Malaysia)

13 January 2019 (2019-01-13)

20:00

Turkmenistan	0–4	Uzbekistan
	Report	Sidikov 17' Shomurodov 24', 42' Masharipov 40'

Rashid Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 4,354

Referee: Ammar Al-Jeneibi (United Arab Emirates)

---

17 January 2019 (2019-01-17)

17:30

Oman	3–1	Turkmenistan
Al-Mahaijri 20' Mu. Al-Ghassani 84' Al-Musalami 90+3'	Report	Annadurdyýew 41'

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 8,338

Referee: Nawaf Shukralla (Bahrain)

17 January 2019 (2019-01-17)

17:30

Japan	2–1	Uzbekistan
Muto 43' Shiotani 58'	Report	Shomurodov 40'

Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 7,005

Referee: Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed (United Arab Emirates)

Ranking of third-placed teams

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	A	Bahrain	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4	Advance to knockout stage
2	C	Kyrgyzstan	3	1	0	2	4	4	0	3
3	F	Oman	3	1	0	2	4	4	0	3
4	D	Vietnam	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
5	E	Lebanon	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
6	B	Palestine	3	0	2	1	0	3	−3	2

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Disciplinary points; 5) Drawing of lots.
Notes:

Knockout stage

Main article: 2019 AFC Asian Cup knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary. A fourth substitution can be made during extra time.

The specific match-ups involving the third-placed teams depended on which four third-placed teams qualified for the round of 16:

  Combination according to the four qualified teams

Third-placed teams qualify from groups							1A vs	1B vs	1C vs	1D vs
A	B	C	D				3C	3D	3A	3B
A	B	C		E			3C	3A	3B	3E
A	B	C			F		3C	3A	3B	3F
A	B		D	E			3D	3A	3B	3E
A	B		D		F		3D	3A	3B	3F
A	B			E	F		3E	3A	3B	3F
A		C	D	E			3C	3D	3A	3E
A		C	D		F		3C	3D	3A	3F
A		C		E	F		3C	3A	3F	3E
A			D	E	F		3D	3A	3F	3E
	B	C	D	E			3C	3D	3B	3E
	B	C	D		F		3C	3D	3B	3F
	B	C		E	F		3E	3C	3B	3F
	B		D	E	F		3E	3D	3B	3F
		C	D	E	F		3C	3D	3F	3E

Bracket

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

20 January – Al Ain (HBZ)

Thailand

1

24 January – Abu Dhabi (MBZ)

China

2

China

0

20 January – Abu Dhabi (MBZ)

Iran

3

Iran

2

28 January – Al Ain (HBZ)

Oman

0

Iran

0

20 January – Dubai (Al Maktoum)

Japan

3

Jordan

1 (2)

24 January – Dubai (Al Maktoum)

Vietnam (p)

1 (4)

Vietnam

0

21 January – Sharjah

Japan

1

Japan

1

1 February – Abu Dhabi (Zayed Sports)

Saudi Arabia

0

Japan

1

22 January – Dubai (Rashid)

Qatar

3

South Korea (a.e.t.)

2

25 January – Abu Dhabi (Zayed Sports)

Bahrain

1

South Korea

0

22 January – Abu Dhabi (Al Nahyan)

Qatar

1

Qatar

1

29 January – Abu Dhabi (MBZ)

Iraq

0

Qatar

4

21 January – Abu Dhabi (Zayed Sports)

United Arab Emirates

0

United Arab Emirates (a.e.t.)

3

25 January – Al Ain (HBZ)

Kyrgyzstan

2

United Arab Emirates

1

21 January – Al Ain (KBZ)

Australia

0

Australia (p)

0 (4)

Uzbekistan

0 (2)

Round of 16

20 January 2019 (2019-01-20)

15:00

Jordan	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Vietnam
Abdel-Rahman 39'	Report	Nguyễn Công Phượng 51'
Penalties
Abdel-Rahman Faisal Samir Ersan	2–4	Quế Ngọc Hải Đỗ Hùng Dũng Lương Xuân Trường Trần Minh Vương Bùi Tiến Dũng

Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 14,205

Referee: Alireza Faghani (Iran)

---

20 January 2019 (2019-01-20)

18:00

Thailand	1–2	China
Supachai 31'	Report	Xiao Zhi 67' Gao Lin 71' (pen.)

Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 8,026

Referee: Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed (United Arab Emirates)

---

20 January 2019 (2019-01-20)

21:00

Iran	2–0	Oman
Jahanbakhsh 32' Dejagah 41' (pen.)	Report

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 31,945

Referee: César Ramos (Mexico)

---

21 January 2019 (2019-01-21)

15:00

Japan	1–0	Saudi Arabia
Tomiyasu 20'	Report

Sharjah Stadium, Sharjah

Attendance: 6,832

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

---

21 January 2019 (2019-01-21)

18:00

Australia	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Uzbekistan
	Report
Penalties
Milligan Behich Kruse Giannou Leckie	4–2	Shukurov Tukhtakhodjaev Alibaev Bikmaev

Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 6,809

Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)

---

21 January 2019 (2019-01-21)

21:00

United Arab Emirates	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Kyrgyzstan
Esmaeel 14' Mabkhout 64' Khalil 103' (pen.)	Report	Murzaev 26' Rustamov 90+1'

Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 17,784

Referee: Fu Ming (China PR)

---

22 January 2019 (2019-01-22)

17:00

South Korea	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Bahrain
Hwang Hee-chan 43' Kim Jin-su 105+2'	Report	Al Romaihi 77'

Rashid Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 7,658

Referee: Ryuji Sato (Japan)

---

22 January 2019 (2019-01-22)

20:00

Qatar	1–0	Iraq
Al-Rawi 62'	Report

Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 14,701

Referee: Muhammad Taqi (Singapore)

Quarter-finals

24 January 2019 (2019-01-24)

17:00

Vietnam	0–1	Japan
	Report	Dōan 57' (pen.)

Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 8,954

Referee: Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed (United Arab Emirates)

---

24 January 2019 (2019-01-24)

20:00

China	0–3	Iran
	Report	Taremi 18' Azmoun 31' Ansarifard 90+1'

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 19,578

Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)

---

25 January 2019 (2019-01-25)

17:00

South Korea	0–1	Qatar
	Report	Hatem 78'

Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 13,791

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

---

25 January 2019 (2019-01-25)

20:00

United Arab Emirates	1–0	Australia
Mabkhout 68'	Report

Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 25,053

Referee: Ryuji Sato (Japan)

Semi-finals

28 January 2019 (2019-01-28)

18:00

Iran	0–3	Japan
	Report	Osako 56', 67' (pen.) Haraguchi 90+1'

Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 23,262

Referee: Chris Beath (Australia)

---

29 January 2019 (2019-01-29)

18:00

Qatar	4–0	United Arab Emirates
Khoukhi 22' Ali 37' Al-Haydos 80' Ismail 90+3'	Report

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 38,646

Referee: César Ramos (Mexico)

Final

Main article: 2019 AFC Asian Cup Final

1 February 2019 (2019-02-01)

18:00

Japan	1–3	Qatar
Minamino 69'	Report	Ali 12' Hatem 27' Ak. Afif 83' (pen.)

Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 36,776

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

Statistics

Goalscorers

There have been 96 goals scored in 36 matches, for an average of 2.67 goals per match. Players highlighted in bold are still active in the competition.

7 goals

• Almoez Ali

4 goals

• Eldor Shomurodov

3 goals

• Sardar Azmoun
• Vitalij Lux

2 goals

• Awer Mabil
• Wu Lei
• Yu Dabao
• Sunil Chhetri
• Mehdi Taremi
• Mohanad Ali
• Yuya Osako
• Hilal El-Helwe
• Muhsen Al-Ghassani
• Fahad Al-Muwallad
• Hwang Ui-jo
• Kim Min-jae
• Ali Mabkhout

1 goal

• Apostolos Giannou
• Chris Ikonomidis
• Jamie Maclaren
• Tom Rogic
• Mohamed Al Romaihi
• Jamal Rashid
• Jeje Lalpekhlua
• Anirudh Thapa
• Ashkan Dejagah
• Saman Ghoddos
• Alaa Abbas
• Ali Adnan
• Bashar Resan
• Humam Tariq
• Ritsu Doan
• Genki Haraguchi
• Yoshinori Muto
• Tsukasa Shiotani
• Musa Al-Taamari
• Anas Bani Yaseen
• Tareq Khattab
• Akhlidin Israilov
• Hassan Maatouk
• Felix Michel
• Pak Kwang-ryong
• Mohammed Al-Musalami
• Ahmed Kano
• Stephan Schröck
• Bassam Al-Rawi
• Abdelkarim Hassan
• Boualem Khoukhi
• Salem Al-Dawsari
• Mohammed Al-Fatil
• Housain Al-Mogahwi
• Hattan Bahebri
• Omar Al Somah
• Omar Kharbin
• Chanathip Songkrasin
• Teerasil Dangda
• Thitipan Puangchan
• Arslanmyrat Amanow
• Altymyrat Annadurdyýew
• Ahmet Ataýew
• Ahmed Khalil
• Khalfan Mubarak
• Odil Ahmedov
• Jaloliddin Masharipov
• Javokhir Sidikov
• Nguyễn Công Phượng
• Nguyễn Quang Hải
• Quế Ngọc Hải

1 own goal

• Ali Faez (against Vietnam)
• Pavel Matyash (against China PR)

Discipline

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

• Receiving a red card (red card suspensions may be extended for serious offences)
• Receiving two yellow cards in two matches; yellow cards expire after the completion of the quarter-finals (yellow card suspensions are not carried forward to any other future international matches)

The following suspensions were served during the tournament:

Player	Offence(s)	Suspension(s)
Zheng Zhi	in Qualification vs Qatar (qualification; 5 September 2017)	Group C vs Kyrgyzstan (matchday 1; 7 January)
Mohammed Saleh	in Group B vs Syria (matchday 1; 6 January)	Group B vs Australia (matchday 2; 11 January)
Han Kwang-song	in Group E vs Saudi Arabia (matchday 1; 8 January)	Group E vs Qatar (matchday 2; 13 January)
Egor Krimets	in Group F vs Oman (matchday 1; 9 January)	Group F vs Turkmenistan (matchday 2; 13 January)
Pansa Hemviboon	in Group A vs India (matchday 1; 6 January) in Group A vs Bahrain (matchday 2; 10 January)	Group A vs UAE (matchday 3; 14 January)
Musa Al-Taamari	in Group B vs Australia (matchday 1; 6 January) in Group B vs Syria (matchday 2; 10 January)	Group B vs Palestine (matchday 3; 15 January)
Trent Sainsbury	in Group B vs Jordan (matchday 1; 6 January) in Group B vs Palestine (matchday 2; 11 January)	Group B vs Syria (matchday 3; 15 January)
Jonathan Cantillana	in Group B vs Syria (matchday 1; 6 January) in Group B vs Australia (matchday 2; 11 January)	Group B vs Jordan (matchday 3; 15 January)
Lee Yong	in Group C vs Philippines (matchday 1; 7 January) in Group C vs Kyrgyzstan (matchday 2; 11 January)	Group C vs China (matchday 3; 16 January)
Đỗ Duy Mạnh	in Group D vs Iraq (matchday 1; 8 January) in Group D vs Iran (matchday 2; 12 January)	Group D vs Yemen (matchday 3; 16 January)
Salem Al-Dawsari	in Group E vs Korea DPR (matchday 1; 8 January) in Group E vs Lebanon (matchday 2; 12 January)	Group E vs Qatar (matchday 3; 17 January)
Ri Il-jin	in Group E vs Saudi Arabia (matchday 1; 8 January) in Group E vs Qatar (matchday 2; 13 January)	Group E vs Lebanon (matchday 3; 17 January)
Jong Il-gwan	in Group E vs Qatar (matchday 2; 13 January)

Marketing

Logo and slogan

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. 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.

The slogan "Bringing Asia Together" (Template:Lang-ar) was unveiled on 5 January 2018, a year before the tournament's kick-off.

Match ball

Main article: Molten Acentec

Molten Acentec football used in the tournament.

The official match ball is provided by Molten Corporation. According from the AFC, the match ball will be known as Molten Acentec.

Mascots

During the final draw on 4 May 2018, two mascots, Mansour and Jarrah, were unveiled. Mansour is a typical Arab football kid, while Jarrah is an Arabian falcon with lightning speed.

Trophy

During the draw for the 2019 group stage on 4 May 2018 at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, an all new trophy made by Thomas Lyte was unveiled. It is 78 centimeters tall, 42 centimeters wide, and weighs 15 kilograms of silver. The trophy is modeled over lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant and five petals of the lotus symbolized the five sub-confederations under the AFC. The winner names are engraved around the trophy base.

Prize money

Total prize money pool for the tournament is US$14,800,000. The champions will receive US$5 million, the runners-up will receive USD$3 million, and the losing semi-finalists will receive US$1 million. All 24 participating teams will also receive US$200,000.

Team bus slogans

The tournament organizers held a competition where fans got to choose and vote on slogans to be used on the team buses of the 24 participating national teams.

Broadcasting

The tournament is broadcast live by around 80 TV channels covering the whole world. 800 million people are expected to watch matches, with the tournament reaching a potential TV audience of more than 2.5 billion people. Below is the list of confirmed broadcasting right holders for 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

Country or Territory	Channel	Ref
Middle East and North Africa	beIN Sports
Asia-Pacific	Fox Sports Asia
Afghanistan	Lemar TV
Australia	Fox Sports
Balkan Countries Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Kosovo Macedonia Montenegro Serbia Slovenia	Arena Sport
Cambodia	BTV News
China	CCTV, Star Sports, PPTV, Youku
India	Star Sports
Iran	IRIB TV3, Varzesh
Japan	TV Asahi, NHK BS1
Kyrgyzstan	KTRK Sport
Lebanon	Télé Liban
Qatar	Al Kass
South Korea	JTBC, JTBC3 Fox Sports
Syria	Syria Sport TV
Tajikistan	Futbol FFT, Varzish TV
Thailand	Channel 7
Turkmenistan	Turkmenistan Sport
Uzbekistan	MTRK Sport
Vietnam	VTV

BeIN Sports has imposed a separate subscription fee for its MENA subscribers. In the Philippines, the Asian Cup is broadcast on free-to-air television; ESPN5 made a "competitive bid" to broadcast the tournament in the Philippines but it was not accepted by the AFC.

Controversies

Potential attendance issues

According to The National, poor attendance records have been seen as a problem for the United Arab Emirates, but AFC officials are confident the tournament will attract significant numbers. The 1996 AFC Asian Cup which was hosted in the United Arab Emirates had a total of 448,000 (17,231 per match) attendance.

Crowd mismanagement

Despite the tournament being on track for a modern record low attendance, it was reported that many ticket-holding fans were not let into the Group B match between Palestine and Australia, with management closing a number of the stadium gates before the start of the match and estimates of up to three thousand fans remaining in queue half an hour after kickoff. The Asian Cup organising committee issued an apology to supporters who were “inconvenienced or left disappointed”. Other games with relatively large attendances during the group stage were also not seen to reach their full attendance in the stands until after half time.

Qatar travel complications

Since 5 June 2017, Qatar has been embroiled in a political row with a number of its neighbours, including the UAE. As a result of the dispute, the UAE suspended all direct flights between the two countries, and initially banned Qatari citizens from entering the country, although the Emirati government later announced that it would permit Qatari citizens temporary entry into the country pending approval from Emirati authorities. According to a report, Saoud al-Mohannadi, a Qatari national who is the AFC vice-president and chairman of the organizing committee for the Asian Cup, was unable to enter the UAE two days prior to the tournament's start because Emirati authorities had not yet cleared him. The director of the 2019 AFC Organizing Committee denied reports that Al Mohannadi was refused entry and declared that Al Mohannadi has arrived on Friday morning and was preparing for his meetings. The director stated that there was no evidence that shows he was unable to enter and stated that this news has "political purposes". He stated "We try to keep sports away from politics."

The Qatar diplomatic crisis prevented many fans from attending Qatar matches in the United Arab Emirates. This has affected attendance figures in Qatar matches, as little more than 450 people spectated the Group E clash between Korea DPR and Qatar on 13 January. The United Arab Emirates government has confirmed previously that Qatari citizens may enter UAE with prior permission obtained directly through a hotline from UAE authorities.

According to Qatar's Sports Press Committee, five Qatar based media representatives were denied entry into the UAE despite having entry visas and receiving assurances that they would be allowed to attend and report on the tournament by the AFC. The AFC Media Committee dismissed the Qatari reports and stated that some of the Qatari based journalists confused visit visas with work visas and advised all journalists to contact them if they encounter any issues with the entry visa type.

Tournament ranking

Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-out are counted as draws.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts

Source:

External links

• AFC Asian Cup, the-AFC.com
• AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019, stats.the-AFC.com