2015 AFC Asian Cup

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2015 AFC Asian Cup

Tournament details
Host country	Australia
Dates	9–31 January
Teams	16
Venue(s)	5 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Australia (1st title)
Runner-up	South Korea
Third place	United Arab Emirates
Fourth place	Iraq
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	85 (2.66 per match)
Attendance	649,705 (20,303 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ali Mabkhout (5 goals)
Best player	Massimo Luongo
← 2011 2019 →

The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, an international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). For the first time in its history, the tournament will be hosted outside the continent of Asia, by AFC member nation Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The winner of the tournament will earn the right to compete for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, which is to be hosted by Russia.

Host selection

Australia was the sole bidder for the hosting rights and was officially named host on 5 January 2011.

“Considering the efforts of the Football Federation Australia in developing the game on their territory and considering also all the achievements that have been made towards the development of football in Australia and to encourage Australia to take steps towards developing the game, I am happy and honoured to announce that the executive committee of the Asian Football Confederation has approved Australia as the host nation of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup,” said then-AFC President, Mohammed Bin Hammam.

Match Ball

The official match ball will be the Nike Ordem.

Qualification

Main article:2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification

The teams finishing first, second and third in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, and the host nation for the 2015 competition, receive automatic byes to finals. Should the host nation finish in the top three of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, the fourth-placed team does not receive an automatic bye. The AFC Challenge Cup acts as a further qualification competition for eligible countries within the emerging and developing category of member associations. The winners of the AFC Challenge Cup competitions in 2012 and 2014 qualify automatically to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup finals. The remaining spots are available for the teams competing in the main Asian Cup preliminaries. The AFC decided that the 20 teams involved in the qualifiers would be drawn into five groups of four teams each. The top two teams from each group and one best third-placed team from among all the groups would qualify for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

Qualified teams

The following sixteen teams qualified for the tournament.

Country	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearance in tournament1
Australia	*Hosts !Hosts2	01 !5 January 2011	02 !2 (2007, 2011)
Japan	111 !2011 AFC Asian Cup winners	02 !25 January 2011	07 !7 (1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011)
South Korea	112 !2011 AFC Asian Cup 3rd place	03 !28 January 2011	12 !12 (1956, 1960, 1964, 1972, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011)
North Korea	113 !2012 Challenge Cup winners	04 !19 March 2012	03 !3 (1980, 1992, 2011)
Bahrain	114 !Group D winners	05 !15 November 2013	04 !4 (1988, 2004, 2007, 2011)
United Arab Emirates	115 !Group E winners	06 !15 November 2013	08 !8 (1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2007, 2011)
Saudi Arabia	116 !Group C winners	07 !15 November 2013	08 !8 (1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011)
Oman	117 !Group A winners	08 !19 November 2013	02 !2 (2004, 2007)
Uzbekistan	118 !Group E runners-up	09 !19 November 2013	05 !5 (1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011)
Qatar	118 !Group D runners-up	1- !19 November 2013	08 !8 (1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011)
Iran	120 !Group B winners	11 !19 November 2013	12 !12 (1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011)
Kuwait	121 !Group B runners-up	12 !19 November 2013	09 !9 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2011)
Jordan	122 !Group A runners-up	13 !4 February 2014	02 !2 (2004, 2011)
Iraq	123 !Group C runners-up	14 !5 March 2014	07 !7 (1972, 1976, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011)
China	124 !Best third-placed team	15 !5 March 2014	10 !10 (1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011)
Palestine	125 !2014 Challenge Cup winners	15 !30 May 2014	0 (debut)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year.

² Australia also obtained 2011 AFC Asian Cup runner-up qualifying position

Venues

The five host cities for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Newcastle, were announced on 27 March 2013, with a total five venues to be used.

Sydney	Newcastle	Brisbane
Stadium Australia	Newcastle Stadium	Brisbane Stadium
Capacity: 84,000	Capacity: 33,000	Capacity: 52,500
Canberra	Melbourne
Canberra Stadium	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
Capacity: 25,011	Capacity: 30,050

Final draw

The draw for the final tournament was held at the Sydney Opera House on 26 March 2014. The 16 participating teams were drawn into the four groups of the group stage. In preparation for this, the teams were organised into four pots using the March 2014 FIFA World Rankings (rankings beside the qualified teams), with the host nation Australia automatically occupying the A1 position of Pot 1. At the time of the draw, the identity of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup winners was not known yet, and they were automatically placed into Pot 4.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Australia (63) (hosts) Iran (42) Japan (48) Uzbekistan (55)	South Korea (60) United Arab Emirates (61) Jordan (1) Saudi Arabia (75)	Oman (81) China (98) Qatar (101) Iraq (103)	Bahrain (106) Kuwait (110) North Korea (133) Palestine (167)

Squads

Each country will have a final squad of 23 players which must be submitted before the deadline of 30 December 2014.

Group stage

The match schedule was announced on 27 March 2013. The winners and runners-up from each group advance to the knockout stage.

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

1. Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned
2. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned
3. Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned
4. Goal difference in all the group matches
5. Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches
6. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play
7. Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches (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)
8. Drawing of lots

Key to colours in group tables
	Group winners and runners-up advance to the knockout stage

Group A

Main article:2015 AFC Asian Cup Group A

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts South Korea 3 3 0 0 3 0 +3 9 Australia 3 2 0 1 8 2 +6 6 Oman 3 1 0 2 1 5 -4 3 Kuwait 3 0 0 3 1 6 -5 0

9 January 2015
Australia	4–1	Kuwait	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne
10 January 2015
South Korea	1–0	Oman	Canberra Stadium, Canberra
13 January 2015
Kuwait	0–1	South Korea	Canberra Stadium, Canberra
Oman	0–4	Australia	Stadium Australia, Sydney
17 January 2015
Australia	0–1	South Korea	Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
Oman	1–0	Kuwait	Newcastle Stadium, Newcastle

Group B

Main article:2015 AFC Asian Cup Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts China 3 3 0 0 5 2 +3 9 Uzbekistan 3 2 0 1 5 3 +2 6 Saudi Arabia 3 1 0 2 5 5 0 3 North Korea 3 0 0 3 2 7 -5 0

10 January 2015
Uzbekistan	1–0	North Korea	Stadium Australia, Sydney
Saudi Arabia	0–1	China	Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
14 January 2015
North Korea	1–4	Saudi Arabia	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne
China	2–1	Uzbekistan	Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
18 January 2015
Uzbekistan	3–1	Saudi Arabia	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne
China	2–1	North Korea	Canberra Stadium, Canberra

Group C

Main article:2015 AFC Asian Cup Group C

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Iran 3 3 0 0 4 0 +4 9 United Arab Emirates 3 2 0 1 6 3 +3 6 Bahrain 3 1 0 2 3 5 -2 3 Qatar 3 0 0 3 2 7 -5 0

11 January 2015
United Arab Emirates	4–1	Qatar	Canberra Stadium, Canberra
Iran	2–0	Bahrain	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne
15 January 2015
Bahrain	1–2	United Arab Emirates	Canberra Stadium, Canberra
Qatar	0–1	Iran	Stadium Australia, Sydney
19 January 2015
Iran	1–0	United Arab Emirates	Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
Qatar	1–2	Bahrain	Stadium Australia, Sydney

Group D

Main article:2015 AFC Asian Cup Group D

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Japan 3 3 0 0 7 0 +7 9 Iraq 3 2 0 1 3 1 +2 6 Jordan 3 1 0 2 5 4 +1 3 Palestine 3 0 0 3 1 11 -10 0

12 January 2015
Japan	4–0	Palestine	Newcastle Stadium, Newcastle
Jordan	0–1	Iraq	Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
16 January 2015
Palestine	1–5	Jordan	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne
Iraq	0–1	Japan	Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
20 January 2015
Japan	2–0	Jordan	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne
Iraq	2–0	Palestine	Canberra Stadium, Canberra

Knockout stage

Main article:2015 AFC Asian Cup knockout stage

In all matches in the knockout stage, if the score were level at the end of 90 minutes, two 15-minute periods of extra time was played. If the score were still level after extra time, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out.

Bracket

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Final
		South Korea	2
		Uzbekistan	0
							South Korea	2
							Iraq	0
		Iran	3 (6)
		Iraq	6 (7)
												South Korea	1
												Australia	2
		China	0
		Australia	2
							Australia	2
							United Arab Emirates	0
		Japan	1 (4)
		United Arab Emirates	1 (5)

Scores after extra time are indicated by (a.e.t.), and penalty shoot-out are indicated by (pen.).

Quarter-finals

With a 2–0 victory over Uzbekistan in extra time, South Korea set a tournament record for appearing in ten semi-finals. The host country, Australia, reached the final four for the second consecutive time after overcoming China PR by the same score. Iran were eliminated for the third consecutive time in an Asian Cup quarter-final after they were defeated by Iraq in a penalty shoot-out after the match ended 3–3 in extra time, not before a sending off which reduced the Iranians to 10 men late in the first half. The United Arab Emirates eliminated reigning champions Japan through a penalty shoot-out following a 1–1 draw at the end of extra time, marking Japan's worst finish since 1996.

22 January 2015 18:30 AEDT (UTC+11)	South Korea	2–0 (a.e.t.)	Uzbekistan	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne Attendance: 23,381 Referee: Fahad Al-Mirdasi (Saudi Arabia)
	Son Heung-min  104', 120'	Report

---

22 January 2015 20:30 AEST (UTC+10)	China	0–2	Australia	Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane Attendance: 46,067 Referee: Kim Jong-hyeok (Korea Republic)
		Report	Cahill  48', 65'

---

23 January 2015 17:30 AEDT (UTC+11)	Iran	3–3 (a.e.t.)	Iraq	Canberra Stadium, Canberra Attendance: 18,921 Referee: Ben Williams (Australia)
	Azmoun  24' Pouraliganji  103' Ghoochannejhad  119'	Report	Yasin  56' Mahmoud  93' Ismail  116' (pen.)
		Penalties
	Hajsafi Pouraliganji Nekounam Hosseini Ghafouri Jahanbakhsh Teymourian Amiri	6–7	Abdul-Amir Salem Ismail Adnan Mahmoud Kasim Hussein Shaker

---

23 January 2015 20:30 AEDT (UTC+11)	Japan	1–1 (a.e.t.)	United Arab Emirates	Stadium Australia, Sydney Attendance: 19,094 Referee: Alireza Faghani (Iran)
	Shibasaki  81'	Report	Mabkhout  7'
		Penalties
	Honda Hasebe Shibasaki Toyoda Morishige Kagawa	4–5	O. Abdulrahman Mabkhout Esmaeel Hassan Fardan I. Ahmed

Semi-finals

South Korea reached their first final since 1988, after overcoming Iraq 2–0. With a 2–0 victory against the United Arab Emirates, Australia qualified for their second consecutive final out of only three appearances in the Asian Cup since moving to the Asian Football Confederation from the Oceania Football Confederation in 2006.

26 January 2015 20:00 AEDT (UTC+11)	South Korea	2–0	Iraq	Stadium Australia, Sydney Attendance: 36,053 Referee: Ryuji Sato (Japan)
	Lee Jung-hyup  20' Kim Young-gwon  50'	Report

---

27 January 2015 20:00 AEDT (UTC+11)	Australia	2–0	United Arab Emirates	Newcastle Stadium, Newcastle Attendance: 21,079 Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)
	Sainsbury  3' Davidson  14'	Report

Third place match

This was both Iraq's and the United Arab Emirates' second appearance in a third place playoff at the AFC Asian Cup, with the teams contesting in 1976 and 1992 respectively. The United Arab Emirates won the match 3–2 and finished in third-place for the first time.

30 January 2015 20:00 AEDT (UTC+11)	Iraq	2–3	United Arab Emirates	Newcastle Stadium, Newcastle Attendance: 12,829 Referee: Nawaf Shukralla (Bahrain)
	Salem  28' Kalaf  42'	Report	Khalil  16', 51' Mabkhout  57' (pen.)

Final

Main article:2015 AFC Asian Cup Final

South Korea entered the match looking for their third Asian Cup title, whereas Australia attempted to win their first. After a late goal by Australia in the first half and another late goal by South Korea in the second half, the match was taken into extra time. Australia eventually won the match 2–1.

31 January 2015 20:00 AEDT (UTC+11)	South Korea	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Australia	Stadium Australia, Sydney Attendance: 76,385 Referee: Alireza Faghani (Iran)
	Son Heung-min  90+1'	Report	Luongo  45' Troisi  105'

Organisation

The tournament will be held from 9 to 31 January, during Australia's summer. The 2014–15 season of the A-League, the national league competition of Australia, is expected to be suspended for three weeks during the tournament. In addition, the inaugural season of the FFA Cup, the national cup tournament of Australia, was brought forward to avoid a clash with Asian Cup match dates played in January 2015.

Broadcasters

Territory	Channel
Australia	Fox Sports
Brazil	SporTV
China	CCTV
Colombia	Senal Colombia
Europe
France
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Iran	IRIB
Japan	NHK
South Korea	KBS
Latin America	Fox Sports
New Zealand	Sky Sport
United Kingdom
United States
Uzbekistan	SPORT-UZ
Philippines
South Africa	SABC

External links

• AFC Asian Cup