5 Quick Facts About The 2019 Asian Cup
This edition of the 2019 Asian Cup has kicked off in earnest.
This year’s AFC Asian Cup is the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup. This prestigious Asian tournament was organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The group stages have already been completed, and many teams have already moved to the knock out stages. The tournament is scheduled to run from 5th of January to the 1st of February. Many top Asian teams, like Japan, South Korea, Australia and Iran are competing in the 2019 Asian Cup.
Today we will find out some interesting facts about the 2019 Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
5 Facts About The 2019 Asian Cup
1. This year’s Asian Cup will be the first of its kind because, for the first time, the Asian Cup competition will be contested by 24 teams. The federation decided to expand it from the 16-team format that was used from 2004 to 2015.
2. The United Arab Emirates were announced as the host for the tournament in 2015. They fought off competition from Iran to win the rights to host the Asian Cup. This will be the second time that the United Arab Emirates hosts the tournament after hosting the Asian Cup in 1996.
3. The countries qualified for the first in the 2019 Asian Cup. Yemen, Philippines and Kyrgyzstan all qualified for the first time in this year’s edition. As for Yemen, This edition was the first time Yemen qualified for the AFC Asian Cup as a unified nation. They participated as South Yemen in 1976.
4. The 2019 Asian Cup will feature Video assistant referees (VAR) for the first time. However, they will be used from the quarterfinals onwards.
5. The 2019 Asian Cups has been riddled with so many controversies. They have been potential poor attendance issues with an average of 10,286 attendance per match. There have also been issues of crowd mismanagement and Qatar travel complications.
The 2019 Asian Cup promises to be an enthralling one. Who do you think will lift the Asian Cup?
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