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After more than a year of exceptional hosting of the 2022 World Cup, football fans are returning to Qatar to watch the 18th edition of the Asian Cup from the 12th of this month to the 10th of next February.
Qatar will host 51 matches in the Asian Cup in 9 distinct stadiums, led by Lusail Stadium, which witnessed the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France.
The same stadium hosts the opening match of the continental championship, between Qatar and Lebanon, as well as the final match of the tournament in which 24 teams participate.
Lusail Stadium, which can accommodate 80,000 spectators, becomes one of the largest stadiums in the history of the Asian Cup after the Azadi Stadium in Tehran (100,000 spectators), which hosted the final match in 1976 between Iran and Kuwait, and the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta (88,000). Spectator) in Indonesia, which hosted 7 matches in the 2007 edition in which Iraq won the title.
Khalifa International Stadium will witness 5 matches, while 4 matches will be held at Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium and the same at Al Janoub Stadium, while Al Bayt Stadium will host two matches in the group stage, one in the quarter-finals, and one in the quarter-finals.
Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium is ready to host exciting #AsianCup2023 matches!
🏟️: 10,000📆 Jan 13: 🇨🇳 v 🇹🇯
📆 Jan 16: 🇹🇭 v 🇰🇬
📆 Jan 19: 🇻🇳 v 🇮🇩
📆 Jan 21: 🇴🇲 v 🇹🇭
📆 Jan 23: 🇭🇰 v 🇵🇸
📆 Jan 25: 🇰🇬 v 🇴🇲
📆 Jan 31: Round of 16 pic.twitter.com/1IbTrMwcwJ— #AsianCup2023 (@afcasiancup) January 5, 2024
Several matches from the continental championship, which will last about a month, will also be held at the Jassim bin Hamad, Education City, Al Thumama and Abdullah bin Khalifa stadiums.
Title holder
Qatar will not enter the tournament to showcase its organizational and construction capabilities, which have already proven its worth in the last World Cup, but it will undergo a difficult test to retain the title it won in 2019 in the UAE with a major victory over Japan 3-1 in the final match.
In 2019, Qatar claimed their first AFC Asian Cup™ title after a historic unbeaten run that saw them concede only one goal during the entire tournament.#Asiancup2023 pic.twitter.com/C1tZVNkC92
— AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 (@Qatar2023en) November 19, 2023
Al-Anabi enters the tournament only about a month after separating by mutual consent from Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz.
The Qatar Football Association quickly hired Al Wakrah coach Marques Lopez, the Spaniard, to temporarily lead the team in the tournament.
There is no doubt that Lopez will rely heavily on the players who participated in the last World Cup, as well as some of the young players that Queiroz included during his short period with Al-Adam.
Our latest list for Asia🏆
Our national team coach Marquez Lopez’s choices for the tournament #AsiaCup2023👨🏻🏫
All the best to #burgundy💪 pic.twitter.com/vr9Xp14bbU
– Qatar Football Association (@QFA) January 3, 2024
The Qatari team won 3-0 over Cambodia and lost to Jordan 1-2 in preparation for the tournament, during which it will face fierce competition from ancient teams such as Japan, the four-time Asian champion, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and other strong teams on the continent.
Candidate teams for the title
- Japan national team: “The Samurai” played 48 matches during its history in the Asian Cup, winning 30 of them, losing 12, and drawing 6, scoring 92 goals and conceding 44 goals.
- Saudi national team: Saudi Arabia also stands out, the three-time Asian champion, participating in the Qatar edition under the leadership of the prominent Italian coach Roberto Mancini, and setting its sights on going the farthest point, breaking the finals knot, and ending a 28-year drought from winning, as its last continental title was in 1996. Saudi football has witnessed remarkable development. On the local level, with foreign stars joining in record deals such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Sadio Mane, officials hope that the strength of the league will be reflected in the national team in the coming period.
- Iran national team: The Iranian national team cannot be overlooked, which participated in the World Cup 6 times, did not go beyond the group stage, and won the Asian Cup 3 times.
- Australia national team: Despite its short participation in the Asian Cup, the Kangaroo team reached the pinnacle of its continental glory in 2015, when it won the title on home soil. Australia has increased the strength of the Asian competition since joining the Continental Confederation in 2006, where it lost the 2011 final to Japan, but won the title in the next edition.
- South Korea national team: The “Taeguk Warriors” team, led by Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min, will be one of the serious contenders for the title, even though it won two titles in the competition dating back to its first two editions in 1956 and 1960.
Among the emerging teams on the continent that could mix the cards and be the dark horses in the tournament, there are Uzbekistan, the Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman, Thailand, and Iraq, which won the title once.
