2011 AFC Asian Cup

The 2011 AFC Asian Cup finals were held in Qatar on 7–29 January 2011. It was 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. Japan won the cup after a 1–0 win against Australia, and earned the right to compete in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil as the representative from AFC.

A television viewing audience of 484 million in 80 countries across the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, North America and North Africa witnessed Japan defeat Australia 1–0 in the final.

Host selection

Qatar, India and Iran all lodged interest in hosting the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, while Australia also considered making a late bid. Qatar officially submitted their bid on 19 June 2006, while India withdrew their interest and Iran failed to submit proper documentation for their bid on time.

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 would be held in January of that year.

2000 AFC Asian Cup

The Asian Football Confederation's 2000 AFC Asian Cup finals were held in Lebanon between October 12 and October 29. Japan defeated defending champion Saudi Arabia in the final match in Beirut.

Qualification

 Lebanon qualified automatically as host.

 Saudi Arabia qualified automatically as defending champions.

42 teams participated in a preliminary tournament. It was divided into 10 groups and the first-placed team of each group thus qualified. A total of 84 games were held, starting with the Oman versus Kyrgyzstan game on August 3, 1999.

The other 10 qualifying teams were:

Stadiums

Squads

First round

All times are Lebanon summer time (UTC+3)

Group A

Iraq  v  Thailand

Lebanon  v  Iran

Iran  v  Thailand

Lebanon  v  Iraq

Iran  v  Iraq

Lebanon  v  Thailand

Group B

South Korea  v  China PR

Kuwait  v  Indonesia

China PR  v  Indonesia

South Korea  v  Kuwait

China PR  v  Kuwait

South Korea  v  Indonesia

Group C

Saudi Arabia  v  Japan

Qatar  v  Uzbekistan

Japan  v  Uzbekistan

Saudi Arabia  v  Qatar

Saudi Arabia  v  Uzbekistan

2004 AFC Asian Cup

The 2004 AFC Asian Cup football competition is the thirteenth staging of AFC Asian Cup. It was held from July 17 to August 7, 2004 in China. The defending champions Japan defeated China in the final in Beijing.

The tournament was marked by Saudi Arabia's unexpected failure to even make it out of the first round; a surprisingly good performance by Bahrain, which finished in fourth place; Jordan, which reached the quarterfinals in its first appearance and Indonesia, which gained first historical victory against Qatar. The final match between China and Japan was marked by post-match rioting by Chinese fans near the north gate of Beijing Worker's Stadium, in part due to controversial officiating and anti-Japanese sentiment resulting from historical tensions.

Host cities and venues

Qualification

Seeds

Squads

For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 2004 AFC Asian Cup squads.

First round

All times are China standard time (UTC+8)

Group A

China PR  v  Bahrain