Football May 6, 2018

2019 AFC Asian Cup to serve up some appetising contests

2019 AFC Asian Cup to serve up some appetising contests
The 2019 AFC Asian Cup, organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), will kick off in the United Arab Emirates on the 5th January next year and run until the 1st of February with a mouth watering month of football in prospect. It will be the 17th edition of the 4-yearly international men’s football championship of Asia, and Expat Sport will as ever be in the thick of the action.

The 2019 tournament has been enlarged from 16 to 24 teams. Under the new format, finalists will contest a group stage made up of six groups of four teams, with the top two and four best third-placed teams advancing to play in a knockout stage of 16 teams.

Qualifiers

There were twelve teams who made the final round of 2018 World Cup qualification in Asia, as a result they also secured their place in the 2019 Asian Cup and were included in Pots 1 and 2.

None more so than the highly competitive Pot 1 which includes tournament hosts the UAE, ranked by FIFA at 72 in the world, and will undoubtedly produce some exciting encounters, as defending champions Australia rub shoulders with the tournament’s most successful nation Japan. The UAE will play the opening match of the tournament on January 5, 2019, at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Pot 1
UAE, Iran, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia

It is much the same in Pot 2, which includes China, rapidly becoming a global football powerhouse ranked at 57 by FIFA, Uzbekistan 76 and Syria at 77.

Pot 2
China, Syria, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Qatar and Thailand

Kyrgyzstan, make their debut in the tournament with a prodigious 40-place leap up the FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking to 75th place, as world football’s biggest movers. The central Asian country will take their place in Pot 3 alongside some seasoned opposition.

Pot 3
Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Palestine, Oman, India and Vietnam

The 12 teams qualified from the recently concluded Asian Cup UAE 2019 Qualifiers final round are seeded in Pots 3 and 4 positioned according to the same rankings

Pot 4
North Korea, Philippines, Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen, Turkmenistan

The final draw
Moving on from qualification, the final draw, eagerly awaited by an army of football fans from across the Middle East region and beyond, took place on Friday 4th of May. It has undoubtedly served up some appetising contests as Asia’s best teams were distributed across the six groups below.

Hosts UAE drawn in Group A will play the opening match of the tournament against Gulf neighbours rivals Bahrain in Abu Dhabi on 5 January, with Thailand and India also drawn in their group.

Current cup holders Australia embark on their quest to keep the title Down Under up against Syria, Palestine and Jordan in Group B. Meanwhile, the competition’s supernova four-time champions Japan will face Uzbekistan, Oman and Turkmenistan in Group F.

Games will be played at eight venues across the United Arab Emirates, with Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Sports City Stadium hosting the final on 1st of February 2018.

The tournament has proved hugely popular with fans and tickets are set to sell rapidly. Make sure you don’t miss kick-off and book your tickets with Expat Sport today.