The 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, an international men’s football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will be held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 February 2019.
24 teams will be contesting for the elusive trophy for the first time in the championship. A 16-team format was used from 2004 to 2015. The host nation automatically qualifies for the event while the remaining 23 teams have to go through a qualifying competition.
The 24 teams have been divided into 6 groups
Group A :
- Bahrain
- India
- Thailand
- United Arab Emirates
Group B :
- Australia
- Jordan
- Palestine
- Syria
Group C :
- China
- South Korea
- Kyrgyz Republic
- Philippines
Group D :
- Iran
- Iraq
- Vietnam
- Yemen
Group E :
- North Korea
- Qatar
- Lebanon
- Saudi Arabia
Group F :
- Japan
- Oman
- Turkmenistan
- Uzbekistan
History of AFC Asian Cup
The first ever AFC Asian Cup was held in Hong Kong in 1956 with seven teams taking part. South Korea won the first two editions in 1956 and 1960. Israel won the cup on their home turf in 1964.
Then it was Iran who won the AFC Asian Cup thrice in a row (1968, 1972 and 1976). Kuwait won in 1980 beating South Korea, 3-0. Saudi Arabia has the championship thrice in 1984, 1988 and 1996.
Japan have won the elusive trophy 4 times – the most by any team. They have won in 1992, 2000, 2004 and 2011. Iraq defeated Saudi Arabia in the finals in 2007. Australia is the current champion having won the Asian cup in 2015.
AFC Rankings of the Participating Nations
| AFC Ranking | Country |
| 1 | Iran |
| 2 | Australia |
| 3 | Japan |
| 4 | South Korea |
| 5 | Saudi Arabia |
| 6 | Syria |
| 7 | China |
| 8 | United Arab Emirates |
| 9 | Lebanon |
| 10 | Oman |
| 11 | Iraq |
| 12 | Kyrgyzstan |
| 13 | Qatar |
| 14 | Uzbekistan |
| 15 | India |
| 16 | Palestine |
| 17 | Vietnam |
| 18 | North Korea
Jordan |
| 19 | Bahrain |
| 20 | Philippines |
| 21 | Thailand |
| 25 | Turkmenistan |
| 26 | Yemen |
India at the AFC Asian Cup
The Indian team were the runners-up in 1964 which Israel won. India entered the group stage in 1984 and 2011.
In 2019, the Sunil Chhetri lead team will play their first match against Thailand on 6th January and then against UAE and Bahrain on 10th and 14th of January respectively. Prior to the event, India is also scheduled to play two friendlies against Oman and Syria.
India’s 28 Member Initial Squad
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Arindam Bhattacharya, Vishal Kaith
Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Sarthak Golui, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Salam Ranjan Singh, Subhasish Bose, Narayan Das, Lalruatthara
Midfielders: Udanta Singh, Pronay Halder, Rowllin Borges, Anirudh Thapa, Vinit Rai, Halicharan Narzary, Ashique Kuruniyan, Germanpreet Singh, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Jackichand Singh
Forwards: Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sumeet Passi, Farukh Choudhary, Balwant Singh, Manvir Singh.
Indian Team’s New Kit
New year ?, new kit ? for #IndianFootball team#AsianDream #BackTheBlue
Link ???https://t.co/9yteKFD5AZ pic.twitter.com/UJskV8d89I
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) December 19, 2018
AFC Asia Cup Logo
AFC Asia Cup Slogan
The slogan of AFC Asia Cup 2019 is “Bringing Asia Together”.
AFC Asia Cup Trophy and Mascots
The new redesigned art-deco inspired trophy has been designed by Thomas Lyte.
The AFC Asia Cup 2019 has two mascots. Mansour is a typical Arab football kid with lightning speed, while Jarrah is an Arabian falcon.
The official mascots for the #AsianCup2019#Indianfootball pic.twitter.com/KE6obVgXoh
— football news india (@fni) May 4, 2018
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