Asian Cup 2023 kicks off: From the continent to the world

After 17 times of organization, Asian Cup has become a real festival of Asian football. The strongest teams in the region will compete for the prestigious championship to demonstrate their class on the continental level.

This will be an opportunity for fans to witness exciting and attractive matches no less than top tournaments such as EURO or World Cup.

Asia's Great Festival

The 2023 Asian Cup will be held in Qatar from January 12 to February 10, 2024. This is the second time Qatar has hosted a major football tournament after successfully hosting the 2022 World Cup finals. Previously, no country had ever hosted the Asian Cup after hosting the World Cup, which also makes the Asian Cup in Qatar unique and worth waiting for.

Qatar was not the original host of the Asian Cup. It was not until May 2022, after the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) announced a change of host location instead of China, that Qatar became the host of the 2023 Asian Cup. Due to the country's harsh summer weather, the 2023 Asian Cup was held in early 2024.

Qatar has all the elements and conditions to host the Asian Cup after successfully organizing the 2022 World Cup. During the World Cup in Qatar, the facilities and infrastructure were highly appreciated by FIFA. In terms of expertise, the host country Qatar also spent a lot of effort in improving the level of the national team. Remember, the Qatar national team will enter the 2023 Asian Cup as the host and the defending champion of the tournament.

Asian Cup and its rich history

The Asian Cup is a football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), held every four years. It is the largest football tournament in Asia and the second oldest continental football championship in the world after the Copa America.

Two years after the AFC was founded in 1954, the first Asian Cup was held in Hong Kong, China, with seven of the 12 founding members of the AFC participating, making the Asian Cup the second oldest tournament in the world. After Hong Kong and South Korea hosted the first two editions, Israel was chosen to host the 1964 Asian Cup. Using the same format as the previous two tournaments, the Asian Cup in Israel also featured only four teams and played a round-robin format in a single group to determine the champion. Israel eventually topped the group with three wins to claim the title.

The format was updated to five teams in 1968, before being expanded to six in 1972 and 1976. The tournament gradually became the preserve of Iran, who won three consecutive Asian Cups in 1968, 1972 and 1976. From 1980 to 1988, the number of teams entered increased to ten, but West Asian nations continued to dominate in the 1980s, with Kuwait becoming the first Arab nation to win the tournament in 1980, beating South Korea 3–0 in the final. Saudi Arabia, after a shaky start, emerged as a qualifier, and went on to win two consecutive Asian Cups in 1984 and 1988, beating both China and South Korea.

Japan: Dominating the continent, and stepping out into the world?

The Asian Cup began to be professionalized in the late 1990s. Japan had been a minor player in Asian football until the 1990s, and the country had only qualified for the tournament since 1988.

However, Japan quickly made a strong move when they hosted the 1992 Asian Cup. This tournament had 8 teams participating, and divided into two groups, the host Japan won the first title after defeating the defending champions Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the final. Since then, the Japanese team has gradually dominated Asia with outstanding performances. Since 1984, Japan (4 times) and Saudi Arabia (3 times) have been the most successful teams with a total of 7 championship titles in the last 10 Asian Cups held.

According to experts, Japan is still the number 1 candidate for the 2023 Asian Cup championship. There are many reasons why Japan is rated higher than the remaining opponents. Although only participating in the Asian Cup 9 times, the team from the land of the rising sun has a very good fate with the title when becoming the most successful team with 4 championships.

Not only that, the Japanese national team owns names that are considered to be of the highest quality. Most of the Japanese players play in Europe and countries with developed football. Therefore, Japan is still at a different level compared to the rest of the tournament. The recent form of coach Moriyasu Hajime and his team is also extremely convincing. In the winning streak of the Japanese national team, they defeated many strong opponents in other continents such as Germany, Turkey and Tunisia. To prepare for this year's Asian Cup, Japan defeated the AFF Cup champion Thailand 5-0. That can be considered a comparison for fans to visualize the formidable strength of coach Hajime Moriyasu and his team compared to the rest at the 2023 Asian Cup.