2023 AFC Asian Cup


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. It involved 24 national teams after its expansion in 2019, with hosts Qatar the defending champions.
On 17 October 2022, the AFC announced that the tournament would be held in Qatar, replacing the original hosts China. 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. The 2023 tournament were the second of three consecutive Asian Cup to be held in Middle East, following the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in United Arab Emirates and preceding the 2027 AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia. This marked the first time a country hosted the AFC Asian Cup having hosted the FIFA World Cup before. Due to the one-year postponement, Qatar 2023 was the only tournament to not have been held in an odd-numbered year since the 2007 edition.
Hosts and defending champions Qatar retained their title after defeating Jordan 3–1 in the final.

Host selection

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. The tournament was originally scheduled to be held from 16 June to 16 July 2023. 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. Due to China's relinquishment of its hosting rights, the AFC conducted a second round of bidding, with a deadline for submissions scheduled on 17 October 2022. Four nations submitted bids: Australia, Indonesia, Qatar, and South Korea. However, Australia subsequently withdrew in September 2022, as did Indonesia on 15 October. On 17 October, the AFC announced that Qatar had won the bid and would host the tournament.

Venues

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. On 21 August 2023, Lusail Stadium was added as a ninth venue. All but one 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.
Lusail Stadium hosted the opening match on 12 January. Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan and Al Thumama Stadium in Doha hosted the semi-final matches, with Lusail hosted the final held on 10 February.
On 5 January 2024, the Main Media Centre for the coverage of the tournament was officially inaugurated in Msheireb Downtown Doha.
CityStadiumCapacityImage
Al KhorAl Bayt Stadium68,890
LusailLusail Stadium88,960
Al RayyanAhmad bin Ali Stadium45,030
Al RayyanEducation City Stadium44,660
Al RayyanJassim bin Hamad Stadium15,000
Al RayyanKhalifa International Stadium45,850
DohaAbdullah bin Khalifa Stadium10,000
DohaAl Thumama Stadium44,400
Al WakrahAl Janoub Stadium44,320

Teams

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.

Qualified teams

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. 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. Only two teams from WAFF failed to qualify for this tournament. Iran meanwhile extended their qualification record; this was their fifteenth straight appearance in the tournament, having qualified for every edition since 1968.
As of 2025, this was the last time that Hong Kong and India qualified for the Asian Cup, and the last time that Kuwait, North Korea and Singapore failed to qualify.
TeamMethod of
qualification		Date of
qualification		Finals
appearance		Last
appearance		Previous best
performance
13th2019
10th2019
7th2019
, later appointed hosts11th2019
15th2019
5th2019
15th2019
11th2019
11th2019
10th2019
5th2019
5th2019
3rd2019
3rd2019
8th2019
8th2019
5th2019
4th1968
1stDebut-
2nd2019
7th2019
4th2007
5th2019
5th2007

Draw

The draw was held at the Katara Opera House in Doha on 11 May 2023.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4














Draw result

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.
The groups were confirmed following the draw:
Team
A1
A2
A3
A4

Team
B1
B2
B3
B4

Team
C1
C2
C3
C4

Team
D1
D2
D3
D4

Team
E1
E2
E3
E4

Team
F1
F2
F3
F4

Squads

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. In December 2023, the maximum was increased to 26 players.

Officiating

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 was used for the entire tournament following its implementation from the quarter-final stage onwards in the 2019 edition. The Semi-Automated Offside Technology 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.
;Referees
;Assistant referees
  • Ashley Beecham
  • Anton Shchetinin
  • Zhang Cheng
  • Zhou Fei
  • Alireza Ildorom
  • Saeid Ghasemi
  • Ahmed Al-Baghdadi
  • Watheq Al-Swaiedi
  • Makoto Bozono
  • Jun Mihara
  • Takumi Takagi
  • Naomi Teshirogi
  • Mohammad Al-Kalaf
  • Ahmad Al-Roalle
  • Ahmad Abbas
  • Abdulhadi Al-Anezi
  • Mohd Arif Shamil Bin Abd Rasid
  • Mohamad Zairul Bin Khalil Tan
  • Abu Bakar Al-Amri
  • Rashid Al-Ghaithi
  • Saoud Al-Maqaleh
  • Taleb Al-Marri
  • Zaid Al-Shammari
  • Yasir Al-Sultan
  • Abdul Hannan Bin Abdul Hasim
  • Ronnie Koh Min Kiat
  • Kim Kyoung-min
  • Park Sang-jun
  • Yoon Jae-yeol
  • Ali Ahmad
  • Mohamad Kazzaz
  • Tanate Chuchuen
  • Rawut Nakarit
  • Mohamed Al-Hammadi
  • Hasan Al-Mahri
  • Timur Gaynullin
  • Andrey Tsapenko
;Stand-by referees
;Stand-by assistant referees
  • Cao Yi
  • Cheung Yim Yau
  • Ismail Al-Hafi
  • Saad Al-Fadhli
  • Abdulrahman Hussein
  • Mohammed Al-Abakry
  • John Chia Eng Wah
  • Farkhad Abdullaev