What is the Asian Cup

English name: AFC Asian Cup, commonly known as the Asian Nations Cup. The Asian Cup, referred to as the Asian Cup, is an international men's Asian Cup hosted by the Asian Football Confederation every four years. The Football Championship is the highest level national event in Asia, and participating teams must be members of the AFC. The Asian Football Confederation was established in 1954. In 1956, the first Asian Cup was held in Hong Kong, China. Only four teams participated, and South Korea won the championship. The Chinese team has participated in the Asian Cup since the sixth session in 1976. In 2006, Australia joined with the approval of the AFC and World Football Federation and became a member of the AFC. The 14th Asian Cup was originally scheduled to be held in 2008. However, in order to avoid conflicts with major international events such as the European Cup and the Olympic Games, the AFC decided to advance the 2008 Asian Cup one year to 2007. It will continue to be held every four years. All previous events have been hosted by a single country, but this event is the first time since the inception of the Asian Cup that it has been hosted by multiple countries. Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam in Southeast Asia co-hosted the 14th Asian Cup. The 15th Asian Cup will be held in Qatar in 2011.

[Edit this paragraph] Previous competitions

The Korean team took the lead

The first competition was divided into three groups: East Asia, Central Asia and West Asia for the qualifiers. As Afghanistan and Pakistan in the West Asian Cup abstained successively, the Israeli team in this group successfully advanced without a fight. South Korea in the East Asian Group won both home and away games against the Philippines and Chinese Taipei teams in the same group, easily qualifying with four wins in all games. Vietnam in the Central Asian Group had the upper hand in the competition with the Malaysian team and successfully advanced with one win and one draw. These three teams and the host Hong Kong team have all qualified for the finals in Hong Kong. The final stage adopted a single round-robin format. As a result, the host South Korea team won the championship with a record of two wins and one draw, while Israel (two wins and one loss), Hong Kong (two draws and one loss) and Vietnam (one draw and two losses) won second to fourth place respectively.

Tai Chi Tigers reaches its peak again

The stage of the second Asian Cup football competition was moved to Seoul, South Korea, and 10 teams signed up to participate. The qualifiers for this competition are still divided into three groups: East Asia, Central Asia and West Asia, held in the Philippines, Singapore and India respectively. Among the four teams in the West Asia group, Iran and Israel are the strongest. Although the Iranian team has a record of one win and one draw against their strong opponents, the Persians were careless in their confrontations with the underdogs India and Pakistan. Each loses one game. The Israeli team, which had three wins, two draws and one loss, finally defeated the Iranian team with a slight advantage of 1 point. The Vietnamese team in the Central Asian Group successfully qualified with an unbeaten record after defeating the Singapore team and the Malaysian team. The Chinese Taipei team in the East Asian Group defeated the Hong Kong team and the Philippines team by a large score to win the right to qualify for this group. In the match of the top four held in Seoul, South Korea, the last champion South Korea beat Chinese Taipei 1:0, swept the Vietnamese team 5:1, and beat the Israeli team 3:0, convincingly retaining the championship. The last runner-up Israel Maintaining second place with two wins and one loss, the Chinese Taipei team and the Vietnamese team took third and fourth place respectively.

Israel successfully "restored"

The third Asian Cup football match held in 1964 was hosted by Israel. This competition attracted 16 teams. After the baptism of the qualifiers, 12 teams, including the host team Israel, qualified for the finals in Tel Aviv, Israel. After fierce competition in the group stage, the four teams of Israel, South Korea, Hong Kong and India entered the top four. The semi-finals adopted a single round-robin format. As a result, the host team Israel, which had missed out on the championship trophy in the previous two games, finally had the last laugh this time. The host team defeated Hong Kong, China 1:0, 2:0 and 2:1 respectively. The Indian and South Korean teams took away the trophy from the Koreans with a record of winning three games; the little-known Indian team ranked second with two wins and one loss; the South Korean team, the previous two championship winners, only won the trophy from the Hong Kong team. Victory, relegated to third place; the Hong Kong team, which had lost all three games, was at the bottom of the semi-finals. Iran defeated Saudi Arabia and won the championship

The Iranian team had the last laugh

The fourth Asian Cup was held in Tehran, Iran, in 1968. 14 teams signed up to participate in the preliminaries for Iran to defeat Saudi Arabia and win the championship.

The sudden rise of the Myanmar team completely overwhelmed the Cambodia, Pakistan and India teams in the same group by winning 3 games without conceding a goal, and easily won the first place in the West Asia group. In the Central Asian group, the Hong Kong team defeated Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, successfully breaking out of the "Southeast Asian encirclement". The Chinese Taipei team in the East Asian Group defeated its strong enemy 1:0 in a key battle with the South Korean team, and finally entered the finals with three wins and one draw. The once glorious South Korean team only finished third in the group and was eliminated. . The first place in these three groups, plus the host Iran team and the previous champion Israel team, the remaining 5 teams have qualified for the "Tehran Sword Competition". Like the previous two tournaments, this tournament is still dominated by the host team. The Iranian team playing at home is invincible and has won all four games to win the "Asia Cup". The second to fifth places are Myanmar, Israel, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong. .

Arabs join

Since the fifth tournament in 1972, Arab countries in the "desert area" of Asian football have begun to actively sign up to participate in the 16-year-old Asian Cup. The tournament finally became the "Asian Cup" in the true sense. Due to the significant increase in participating teams from the West Asian region, the original West Asian group was expanded into two groups, while the Central Asian group and the East Asian group remained as they were. After fierce competition, four teams including Cambodia, Kuwait, Iraq and South Korea qualified from their respective groups and qualified for the finals together with the host team Thailand and the previous champion Iran. The Bangkok decisive battle adopted a new competition format, with 6 teams divided into two groups. In the first group, the Iranian team won the first place in the group with two wins from two games, and the Thai team relied on its goal difference advantage to overwhelm the Iraqi team and occupy the second place; In the second group, there were three teams with the same points. South Korea and Cambodia were lucky to advance with a goal difference advantage, while the new Kuwait team lost the right to qualify. The competition in the semi-finals was extremely fierce. Iran and South Korea, who were superior in strength, finally met in the final. The Iranian team relied on a golden goal in overtime to win the Asian Cup for the second consecutive time.

The Chinese team entered the "Asian Cup"

The Chinese team drew with Iran and Zheng Zhi received a yellow card. Eight years later, the Asian Cup football match once again took the battlefield to Tehran, Iran. The Chinese team drew with Iran and the first yellow card competition attracted 17 teams, setting an Asian Cup record. What is even more worth mentioning is that the Chinese team appeared in the Asian Cup for the first time. Due to the withdrawal of Pakistan, Syria and Bahrain in the first group of qualifiers, and the withdrawal of the Lebanese team due to the domestic situation, the Kuwait and Yemen teams in this group automatically entered the finals. The qualifying teams in the second group are Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The qualifying teams in the third group are Thailand and Malaysia. In the fourth group, the Chinese team and the North Korean team, which participated for the first time, advanced together. North Korea won the penalty shootout with The 11-10 victory over the Hong Kong team of China was quite a dramatic scene. As Thailand, North Korea and Saudi Arabia successively announced their abstention, only six teams were left participating in the finals. The Chinese team tied with the Malaysian team 1:1 in the first match and lost to the Kuwait team 0:1 in the second match. Qualified as second in the group. The other three qualifying teams are Kuwait, Iraq and Iran. In the semi-finals, the Chinese team, which had only joined the AFC for two years, lost to the defending champion Iran 0-2, while the Kuwait team narrowly defeated the Iraqi team 3-2. In the final, the Iranian team defeated the Kuwait team 1:0 and won the Asian Cup for the third consecutive time. The Chinese team won the third and fourth place finals.

Kuwait team "righted"

Due to the gradual increase in participating teams, the Asian Cup football competition system has finally been on track since the seventh session. The promotion of the preliminaries mechanism has allowed some weak teams to are filtered out early, thereby increasing the competitiveness of the game. This competition was held in Kuwait in 1980. 17 teams signed up to participate. The preliminaries were divided into four groups and were held in the United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Thailand and the Philippines. In the end, 10 teams were shortlisted for the finals held in Kuwait. The Chinese team defeated the Philippines 3:0 in the group stage, defeated the Macau team 2:1, and lost 0:1 to the South Korean team, qualifying as the second place in the group. The finals are divided into two groups, A and B. Iran, North Korea, Syria, China, and Bangladesh are in Group A, and the other five teams are South Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. After a single round-robin, four teams - Kuwait, Iran, South Korea and North Korea - advanced to the semi-finals.

The Chinese team in Group A performed poorly, losing to North Korea and Syria 1:2 and 0:1 respectively, with only one win, one draw and two losses, ranking fourth in the group. Kuwait defeated South Korea 3-0 in the final and won the Asian Cup for the first time.

The Chinese team is only one step away

The 8th Asian Cup was held in Singapore in 1984. This competition attracted 21 teams to sign up, making it the first Asian Cup in history. new record. The preliminaries were divided into 4 groups. In the end, Syria and Iran were in the first group, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were in the second group, South Korea and India were in the third group, China and Qatar were in the fourth group, and Eight teams, including the previous champion Kuwait and the host Singapore, qualified for the finals. The finals are divided into two groups, A and B, in a single round-robin format. As a result, the Saudi team and Kuwait team in Group A and the Chinese team and Iran team in Group B respectively won the top two places in their respective groups and entered the semi-finals. In the semifinals, the Saudi Arabian team overwhelmed Iran, while the Chinese team relied on Li Huayun's goal in overtime to defeat the previous champion Kuwait 1:0 and reach the Asian Cup finals for the first time. In the final, the Chinese players who were overly excited before the game failed to perform well and lost 0:2 to the Saudi team that was defeated in the 12th World Cup qualifier three years ago. Unfortunately, they missed the "Asian Cup". Kuwait and Iran finished third and fourth respectively. After the game, Jia Xiuquan, the main defender of the Chinese team, was named the "Best Athlete" and he also won the "Golden Boot Award" with 4 goals.

Saudis forged hegemony

The 9th Asian Cup was held in Doha, Qatar in 1988, with 22 teams participating. The preliminaries are divided into four groups. The Chinese team was placed in the same group with the United Arab Emirates, North Yemen, Thailand, Bangladesh and India. After five rounds of competition, the Chinese team ranked second in the group with a record of three wins and two draws, and successfully advanced to the finals. The ten teams participating in the finals are first divided into two groups, with the top two teams in each group qualifying. South Korea, Iran, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Japan are in Group A, and Saudi Arabia, China, Syria, Kuwait and Bahrain are in Group B. Group. The two groups competed in a single round-robin format. In the end, South Korea and Iran in Group A, and Saudi Arabia and China in Group B entered the semifinals. The Chinese team defeated Syria and Bahrain 3:0 and 1:0 respectively in the group stage, and then tied with the Kuwait team 2:2. In the last game, it lost to the Saudi team 0:1 and entered the semi-finals as second place. . In the semi-finals, the Chinese team and the South Korean team fought hard, and the two sides were tied at 90 minutes. In overtime, Chinese team center Wang Baoshan broke the net with a header, but unfortunately the referee mistakenly ruled it a "foul first". The South Korean team, which survived the disaster, scored through counterattack and luckily won the right to the finals. In the final, the Saudi team defeated the South Korean team 4-3 in a penalty kick exchange and won the championship again. The Iranian team and the Chinese team won third and fourth place respectively.

The Japanese team soared

The 10th Asian Cup football match held in 1992 was hosted by Japan. The preliminaries are divided into 6 groups and adopt a tournament system. The first place in each group, the host Japan team, and the previous champion Saudi Arabia team, 8 teams advance to the finals. There was a big upset in the preliminaries. The Korean team, the last runner-up, was unexpectedly eliminated by the Thai team. The Chinese team successfully qualified after defeating Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in the same group. The other four qualifying teams are the United Arab Emirates, North Korea, Iran, and Qatar. The finals are divided into two groups. Group A has four teams from Japan, the United Arab Emirates, North Korea and Iran, and Group B has four teams from Saudi Arabia, China, Qatar and Thailand. In the end, four teams, Japan and the United Arab Emirates in Group A, Saudi Arabia and China in Group B, competed for the semi-finals. In the semifinals, the Chinese team lost to the host Japan team 2:3, and the Saudi team defeated the UAE team. In the final, the Japanese team defeated the defending champion Saudi Arabia 1-0 and won the Asian Cup for the first time. The Japanese team, which has been among the second-tier teams in Asia until now, has also entered the top teams. In the competition for third place, the Chinese team defeated the UAE team in a penalty shootout.

"West Wind" Overwhelms "East Wind"

Due to the increase in participating teams and the improvement of the overall level, the number of teams participating in the Asian Cup Football Finals has expanded since the 11th session. For 12 sticks. This competition was held in the United Arab Emirates in 1996.

The 32 participating teams were divided into ten groups for the preliminaries. As a result, South Korea, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait qualified as the first place in the group. These ten teams and the host United Arab Emirates, The previous champion Japanese team also qualified to participate in the finals. The 12 teams were divided into three groups to compete, with the top two teams in each group and the two third-placed teams with the best results advancing to the quarterfinals. The host teams of the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, South Korea and Indonesia are in Group A, the teams of Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Iraq and Iran are in Group B, and the Chinese team is in Group C with Japan, Uzbekistan and Syria. The Chinese team lost to the Uzbek team 0:2 in the first match, and beat the Syrian team 3:0 in the second match. In the match with the Japanese team, the opponent scored a goal in the last minute, and the Chinese team, which was originally in a good position to qualify, was suddenly squeezed out. Cliff edge. Fortunately, the Uzbek team was unexpectedly defeated by the Syrian team in another game, and the Chinese team barely qualified by virtue of its superior goal difference. The Chinese team met the Saudi team in the quarter-finals. The Chinese team achieved a 2:0 advantage shortly after the start. The Saudi team launched a massive attack and scored four goals in a row to win 4:3. The Japanese team and the South Korean team lost to the Kuwait team and the Iranian team respectively, and the UAE team defeated the Iraqi team. In this way, the top four places in this competition are occupied by teams from West Asia. In the semifinals, the UAE defeated Kuwait 1:0, and the Saudis defeated Iran 4:3 in a penalty shootout. The Saudi team was lucky in the final, defeating the host UAE team 4:3 through penalty kicks.

The top three in East Asia regained lost ground

The 12th Asian Cup was held in Lebanon in 2000. This competition attracted 42 teams to participate, and the influence of the Asian Cup increased to an unprecedented height. The preliminaries are divided into ten groups. The Chinese team defeated the Philippines and Vietnam with the same score of 8:0 in the group stage, and swept the Guam team 19:0, easily qualifying. The other nine qualifying teams are Iraq, Iran, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Kuwait, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan. The host Lebanon team and the previous champion Saudi Arabia team are directly qualified. Like the previous competition format, the final group stage will be divided into three groups. The Chinese team in the group drew with the South Korean team 2:2 in the first game, and then beat the Indonesian team 4:0. In the last game, it had a goalless draw with the Kuwait team and qualified as the first place in the group. The top eight teams are Iran, Iraq in Group A, China, Kuwait, and South Korea in Group B, and Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar in Group C. In the quarter-finals, the Chinese team defeated Qatar 3:1 and reached the semi-finals. South Korea defeated Iran 2:1, Japan defeated Iraq 4:1, and Saudi Arabia narrowly defeated Kuwait 3:2. These three teams also qualified for the semifinals. In the semi-finals with the Japanese team, the Chinese team repeated the scene eight years ago and lost 2:3. The Saudi team defeated the South Korean team 2:1. Just like eight years ago, the Japanese team still beat the previous champion Saudi Arabia 1:0 in the final and won the cup for the second time. In the third and fourth finals, the Chinese team 0