2019 AFC Asian Cup

The 2019 AFC Asian Cup will be the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The United Arab Emirates was announced as the host for the tournament on 9 March 2015, with Iran being the only remaining bidder for the right to host the 2019 finals. It will be the second time that the United Arab Emirates hosts the tournament after the 1996 finals.

For the first time, the Asian Cup final tournament will be contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format that had been used since 2004. Under this new format, the finalists will contest a group stage consisting of six groups of four teams, followed by a knockout stage of 16 teams. The host nation will automatically qualify for the final tournament, while the remaining 23 places will be determined among the other 45 national teams through a qualifying competition, running from March 2015 to March 2018, in which the first two rounds also serve as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process for the AFC.

Australia will be the defending champions going into the tournament, having won the previous competition in 2015. The winner of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup will earn the right to participate in the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup which is to be hosted by a yet to be determined AFC association after 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts, Qatar, lost the rights. As the 2021 Confederations Cup host country will have already qualified as hosts, if they win the Asian Cup, the runner-up will qualify.

Host selection
The bidding procedure and timeline for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup was approved at the AFC congress on 28 November 2012. The winning bid was originally set to be announced at an AFC congress in June, then November 2014. However, at its 60th Anniversary celebrations at the end of 2014, AFC gave the date of 'summer 2015' to when an announcement would be made.

In January 2015, AFC general secretary Alex Soosay said that Iran and the United Arab Emirates were the only two remaining bidders for the 2019 Asian Cup, and that the eventual hosts would be announced in March 2015.

On 9 March 2015, AFC announced the hosts during an AFC Executive Committee meeting in Manama, Bahrain.

Qualification


The 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification process will determine the 24 participating teams for the tournament. In 2014, a proposal to merge the preliminary qualification rounds of the FIFA World Cup with those of the AFC Asian Cup was ratified by the AFC Competitions Committee. The new qualification structure will take place in three stages, with the first two merging with the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. In the first round, the lowest ranked teams played home-and-away over two legs to reduce the total number of teams to 40. In the second round, the 40 teams were divided into eight groups of five to play home-and-away round-robin matches, where the eight group winners and the four best group runners-up will qualify for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals. In the third round, the next best 24 teams eliminated from second round will be divided into six groups of four and compete for the remaining slots of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

The first qualifying round of the qualification took place on 12 March 2015, with the final match of the third round expected to take place on 27 March 2018.

Qualified teams
The following teams qualified for the tournament.


 * 1 Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

Venues
The eight venues to host matches are Zayed Sports City Stadium, Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium and Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium and Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, Zabeel Stadium and Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium in Dubai, and Sharjah Stadium in Sharjah.

Schedule
Zayed Sports City Stadium, one of three stadiums in Abu Dhabi, will stage both the opening match and the final. The match schedule itself will maximise the use of venues. At least five matches will be allocated to each venue, with every ground hosting at least one match in the knockout stage. The semi-finals will be played on different days in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. No city will host two matches on the same day – except in the final round of group stage matches when simultaneous kick-off is required. Unlike previous editions of the tournament, there will be no third/fourth place game. <!--

Group stage
Group winners, runners-up, and best four third-placed teams advance to the Round of 16.

Tiebreakers
If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria will be applied: The four best third-placed teams are determined according to the following criteria:
 * 1) Higher number of points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
 * 2) Superior goal difference resulting from the matches played between the teams in question;
 * 3) Higher number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
 * If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 apply;
 * 1) Superior goal difference in all group matches;
 * 2) Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
 * 3) If only two teams have the same number of points, and they are tied according to criteria 1–6 after having met in the last round of the group stage, their ranking is determined by a penalty shoot-out. (This criterion is not used if more than two teams have the same number of points.)
 * 4) Fair play conduct (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card);
 * 5) Position in the ranking system.
 * 1) Higher number of points obtained;
 * 2) Superior goal difference;
 * 3) Higher number of goals scored;
 * 4) Fair play conduct;
 * 5) Position in the ranking system.

Knockout phase
In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary.

Knockout phase structure
In the round of 16, the match-ups to take place as follows:
 * Match 1: Runner-up Group A v Runner-up Group C
 * Match 2: Winner Group D v 3rd Place Group B/E/F
 * Match 3: Winner Group B v 3rd Place Group A/C/D
 * Match 4: Winner Group F v Runner-up Group E
 * Match 5: Winner Group C v 3rd Place Group A/B/F
 * Match 6: Winner Group E v Runner-up Group D
 * Match 7: Winner Group A v 3rd Place Group C/D/E
 * Match 8: Runner-up Group B v Runner-up Group F

The specific match-ups involving the third-placed teams depend on which four third-placed teams qualify for the round of 16:

{{legend|#ccffcc|Combinations which are still possible}} {{legend|#ffcccc|Combinations which are no longer possible}}

The quarter-final match-ups are:
 * Quarter-final 1: Winner Match 1 v Winner Match 2
 * Quarter-final 2: Winner Match 3 v Winner Match 4
 * Quarter-final 3: Winner Match 5 v Winner Match 6
 * Quarter-final 4: Winner Match 7 v Winner Match 8

The semi-final match-ups are:
 * Semi-final 1: Winner Quarter-final 1 v Winner Quarter-final 2
 * Semi-final 2: Winner Quarter-final 3 v Winner Quarter-final 4

The final match-up is: Winner Semi-final 1 v Winner Semi-final 2. As the 2019 tournament, there will be no third-place match.

Final
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Concerns and controversies
Poor attendance records have been seen as a problem for the UAE in past tournaments, but Asian Cup officials are confident the tournament will attract significant numbers.