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)
Final positions
Champions	Qatar (1st title)
Runners-up	Japan
Tournament statistics
Matches played	51
Goals scored	130 (2.55 per match)
Attendance	644,307 (12,633 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Almoez Ali (9 goals)[1]
Best player(s)	Almoez Ali[1]
Best goalkeeper	Saad Al-Sheeb[2]
Fair play award	Japan[3]
← 2015 2023 →

The 2019 AFC Asian Cup (or commonly called the Asian Cup 2019) was the 17th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 February 2019.^[4]

For the first time, 24 teams competed for the title, replacing the 16-team format used from 2004 to 2015. Under this new format, the finalists would contest a group stage consisting of six groups of four teams, followed by a knockout stage of 16 teams. The host nation qualified for the final tournament automatically, while the remaining 23 places were determined among the other 45 national teams of the AFC through a qualifying competition running from 2015 to 2018, part of which also served as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process for the confederation. It was the first of three consecutive Asian Cups held in Middle East, preceding the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar and the 2027 AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.

The tournament was won for the first time by Qatar, who defeated Japan 3–1 in the final. This was Qatar's first ever top-four finish in the competition. Defending champions Australia were eliminated in the quarter-finals by the hosts United Arab Emirates, who subsequently lost to eventual winners Qatar in the semi-finals.