The 2023 AFC Asian Cup was the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It involved 24 national teams after its expansion in 2019, with hosts Qatar the defending champions.[3][4]
On 17 October 2022, the AFC announced that the tournament would be held in Qatar, replacing the original hosts China.[5] Due to the high summer temperatures and Qatar's participation in the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the tournament was postponed to 12 January – 10 February 2024, while retaining the original name for both existing sponsorship and logistical purposes.[6][7]
Hosts and defending champions Qatar successfully retained their title, defeating Jordan 3–1 in the final.[8]
China was acclaimed as the host country on 4 June 2019, as sole finishing bidder, days just prior to the 69th FIFA Congress in Paris, France.[9] The tournament was originally scheduled to be held from 16 June to 16 July 2023.[10] On 14 May 2022, the AFC announced that China would not host the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic and China's Zero-COVID policy.[11] Due to China's relinquishment of its hosting rights,[12][13] the AFC conducted a second round of bidding, with a deadline for submissions scheduled on 17 October 2022.[14] Four nations submitted bids: Australia, Indonesia, Qatar, and South Korea.[15] However, Australia subsequently withdrew in September 2022,[16] as did Indonesia on 15 October.[17] On 17 October, the AFC announced that Qatar had won the bid and would host the tournament.[5]
Five host cities were submitted in the 2023 bid, including seven stadiums previously prepared for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. On 5 April 2023, the AFC announced the eight stadiums across four host cities for the tournament.[18] On 21 August 2023, Lusail Stadium was added as a ninth venue.[19] All but one (Stadium 974) of the host stadiums from the 2022 FIFA World Cup were selected for the tournament, along with Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, which hosted matches during the 2011 edition, and Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, which had not hosted any international tournament previously.
The first two rounds of qualification also served as the Asian qualification for the 2022 World Cup. Qatar, the host of the World Cup, participated only in the second round to qualify for the 2023 Asian Cup (which they were later selected as hosts for after China withdrew its hosting rights).
Of the 24 teams appearing, 20 teams were returning after appearing in the 2019 edition.
Tajikistan were the only debutant in the competition, while Hong Kong marked their return for the first time in 56 years. Indonesia and Malaysia both qualified for the first time since hosting the 2007 AFC Asian Cup.
Four nations from the previous edition failed to qualify (North Korea, Turkmenistan, Yemen, and the Philippines). India was the only SAFF representative in this edition, while it was the first time that five teams from the AFF managed to reach the finals (Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam). Only two teams from WAFF failed to qualify for this tournament (Yemen and Kuwait). Iran meanwhile extended their qualification record; this was their fifteenth straight appearance in the tournament, having qualified for every edition since 1968.
^China was awarded hosting rights on 4 June 2019. They later finished as second round Group A runners-up on 15 June 2021, which would earn them a qualification regardless of the hosting status. China later withdrew their hosting rights on 14 May 2022.
Teams were drawn into Groups A to F. For the first time in AFC Asian Cup history, the teams from lowest pots were drawn first but not assigned to the positions of their groups, following by number orders of the group stage, as in previous editions. Pot 1 teams were assigned to the first positions of their groups, while next the positions of all other teams were drawn separately from Pot 4 to 2 (for the purposes of determining the match schedules in each group).
Each team was required to registered a squad with a minimum of 18 players and a maximum of 23 players, at least three of whom had to be goalkeepers.[23] In December 2023, the maximum was increased to 26 players.[24]
On 14 September 2023, the AFC announced the list of 33 referees, 37 assistant referees, two stand-by referees and eight stand-by assistant referees for the tournament, including two female referees and three female assistant referees. Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was used for the entire tournament following its implementation from the quarter-final stage onwards in the 2019 edition.[25][26] The Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT) system, which utilized twelve specialized cameras and artificial intelligence, was also implemented at all 51 matches. This marked the first time that SAOT was in place at an AFC competition and made the AFC the first confederation to apply the system at the continental men's national team level.[27]
The opening ceremony, named "The Lost Chapter of Kelileh o Demneh" took place at Lusail Stadium, before the opening game between Qatar and Lebanon on 12 January 2024.[28][29]
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:[23]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
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;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they played each other in the last round of the group;
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);