AFC Asian Cup Quiz

AFC Asian Cup: A Brief History

• The AFC Asian Cup is a football tournament for senior men's national teams in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
• It is the second oldest continental football championship in the world after Copa América.
• The tournament was held once every four years from the 1956 edition until the 2004 tournament in China.
• Since 2004, the tournament has been held every four years.
• The most successful teams in the tournament are Japan (four times) and Saudi Arabia (three times), together winning seven of the last ten finals.
• Other teams that have achieved success are Qatar (2019 current champions), Australia (2015), Iraq (2007), and Kuwait (1980).
• Australia joined the Asian confederation in 2007 and hosted the Asian Cup finals in 2015, winning the competition in the final against South Korea.
• The 2019 tournament was expanded from 16 teams to 24 teams.
• The first AFC Asian Cup was staged in Hong Kong in 1956 with seven of the twelve founding members taking part.
• South Korea demonstrated its superiority in the early years of the competition as the country conquered the 1956 and 1960.
• From 1980 to 1988, the number of teams taking part expanded to ten, but West Asian countries continued their domination in the 1980s with Kuwait becoming the first Arab country to win the championship in 1980.
• The final tournament is played in two stages: the group stage and the knockout stage.
• There have been two Asian Cup trophies; the first one used between 1956 and 2015, and the second one in use since 2019.