Wikipedia

2015 AFC Asian Cup

The2015 AFC Asian Cupwas the 16th edition of the men'sAFC Asian Cup,aquadrennialinternationalfootballtournament organised by theAsian Football Confederation(AFC). It was held inAustraliafrom 9 to 31 January 2015.[1]The tournament was won byAustraliaafter defeatingSouth Korea2–1in extra timein thefinal,thereby earning the right to participate in the2017 FIFA Confederations Cup,which was hosted byRussia.The win was Australia's first Asian title since their move from theOceania Football Confederation(OFC) in 2006. It was also the first time a men's team has become champions of two confederations, following Australia's fourOFC Nations Cuptitles:1980,1996,2000and2004;right after theAustralian women's teamwon the2010 AFC Women's Asian Cup.Australia thus became the final and permanent holder of the old AFC Asian Cup trophy, as the new trophywould debut in the tournament four years later.[2][3]

2015 AFC Asian Cup
Tournament details
Host countryAustralia
Dates9–31 January
Teams16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)5 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
ChampionsAustralia(1st title)
Runners-upSouth Korea
Third placeUnited Arab Emirates
Fourth placeIraq
Tournament statistics
Matches played32
Goals scored85 (2.66 per match)
Attendance705,705 (22,053 per match)
Top scorer(s)United Arab EmiratesAli Mabkhout
(5 goals)
Best player(s)AustraliaMassimo Luongo
BestgoalkeeperAustraliaMathew Ryan
Fair play awardAustralia
←2011
2019→
Result of countries participating in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup

Australia was chosen as the host on 5 January 2011, after being the sole bidder for the right to host the 2015 tournament. The matches were played in five different stadiums across five cities:Sydney,Melbourne,Brisbane,CanberraandNewcastle.It was the first time that Australia had hosted the tournament, and it was also the first time the Asian Cup had been held outside thecontinentofAsia.As hosts, Australia automatically qualified for the final tournament, while the remaining 15 finalists (with the exception of Japan and South Korea who qualified via their top three position in theprevious Asian Cup) were decided through aqualification process,featuring 44 teams, from February 2013 to March 2014.

The final tournament was played in two stages: the group stage and the knockout stage. In the group stage each team played three games in a group of four, with the winners and runners-up from each group advancing to the knockout stage. In the knockout stage the eight teams competed insingle-eliminationmatches, beginning with the quarter-finals and ending with the final match of the tournament. A third-place match was also played between the two losing teams of the semi-finals (Iraqand theUnited Arab Emirates). This was also the last time the tournament had a third-place match, as it wasn't played since the2019 edition.

Japanwere the defending champions going into the tournament, having won theprevious competition in 2011.They recorded their worst finish in theAsian Cupsince the1996 edition in the United Arab Emirates,being knocked out in the quarter-finals by that team in a penalty shootout.[4]

Host selection

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Australia initially put forward its bid to host the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in 2010.[5]As the sole bidder for the hosting rights, Australia was officially named host on 5 January 2011.[6]

Considering the efforts of theFootball Federation Australiain 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 theAsian Football Confederationhas approved Australia as the host nation of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

— AFC President,Mohammed Bin Hammam[7]

Teams

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Qualification

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Main article:2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification

The 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification process determined the 16 participating teams for the tournament. In the initial scheme, ten places were determined by qualification matches, while six places were reserved for the 2015 host nation, top three finishers in the2011 AFC Asian Cup,and the two winners of theAFC Challenge Cup.Though, as the host nation Australia also finished as runners-up in the 2011 Asian Cup, the initial six automatic qualification spots were reduced to five, with a total of 11 spots eventually determined by the qualification matches, in which 20 AFC members competed.[8]

There were two main competitive paths to the 2015 Asian Cup. The AFC Challenge Cup acted as a qualification competition for eligible countries within the emerging and developing category of member associations. The winners of the AFC Challenge Cup competitions in2012and2014qualified automatically for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup finals.[9]The remaining spots were available for the teams competing in the main Asian Cup preliminaries. TheAFCdecided that the 20 teams involved in the qualifiers would be split 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.[10]

Qualified teams

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Out of the sixteen teams that qualified, fourteen had participated in the2011 tournament.Omanqualified for the first time since2007.Palestine,winners of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup, were the only team making their first appearance in the tournament.IndiaandSyriaare the only two teams from the 2011 tournament who failed to qualify for the subsequent edition. Excluding hostsAustralia,none of the other 11 members of theASEAN Football Federationqualified, nor did any of theSouth Asiannational teams.

Qualified for Asian Cup
Failed to qualify
Did not enter
Not an AFC member
Team Method of
qualification 		Date of
qualification 		Finals
appearance 		Last
appearance 		Previous best
performance
Australia Hosts 5 January 2011 3rd 2011 Runners-up (2011)
Japan 2011 AFC Asian Cupwinners 25 January 2011 8th 2011 Winners(1992,2000,2004,2011)
South Korea 2011 AFC Asian Cup3rd place 28 January 2011 13th 2011 Winners(1956,1960)
North Korea 2012 AFC Challenge Cupwinners 19 March 2012 4th 2011 Fourth place (1980)
Bahrain Group Dwinners 15 November 2013 5th 2011 Fourth place (2004)
United Arab Emirates Group Ewinners 15 November 2013 9th 2011 Runners-up (1996)
Saudi Arabia Group Cwinners 15 November 2013 9th 2011 Winners(1984,1988,1996)
Oman Group Awinners 19 November 2013 3rd 2007 Group stage (2004,2007)
Uzbekistan Group Erunners-up 19 November 2013 6th 2011 Fourth place (2011)
Qatar Group Drunners-up 19 November 2013 9th 2011 Quarter-finals (2000,2011)
Iran Group Bwinners 19 November 2013 13th 2011 Winners(1968,1972,1976)
Kuwait Group Brunners-up 19 November 2013 10th 2011 Winners(1980)
Jordan Group Arunners-up 4 February 2014 3rd 2011 Quarter-finals (2004,2011)
Iraq Group Crunners-up 5 March 2014 8th 2011 Winners(2007)
China Best third-placed team 5 March 2014 11th 2011 Runners-up (1984,2004)
Palestine 2014 AFC Challenge Cupwinners 30 May 2014 1st N/A N/A

Draw

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TheSydney Opera House,location for the final draw

The draw for the final tournament occurred at theSydney Opera Houseon 26 March 2014.[11]The draw procedure involved the 16 participating teams drawn at random into the four groups of the group stage.[12]In preparation for this, the teams were organised into four pots based on a seeding which used the March 2014FIFA World Rankings(rankings beside the qualified teams). The draw and seeding ensured a fair distribution of teams in the groups, with each of the four groups in the group stage made up of one team from each pot. The host nation (Australia) was automatically placed into Pot 1, with the team having been predetermined to be in Group A.[13]In addition, at the time of the draw, the identity of the2014 AFC Challenge Cupwinners (Palestine) 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(66)
Saudi Arabia(75) 		Oman(81)
China(98)
Qatar(101)
Iraq(103) 		Bahrain(106)
Kuwait(110)
North Korea(133)
Palestine(167)

Venues

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Stadiums

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The five host cities for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup,Sydney,Melbourne,Brisbane,CanberraandNewcastle,were announced on 27 March 2013, with a total five stadiums to be used.[14]

Sydney Brisbane Newcastle
Stadium Australia Brisbane Stadium Newcastle Stadium
Capacity:84,000 Capacity:52,500 Capacity:33,000[15]
Melbourne
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
Capacity:30,050
Canberra
Canberra Stadium
Capacity:25,011

Ticketing

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Tickets for the venues were sold directly by AFC via its website, or distributed by the football associations of the 16 finalists. 500,000 tickets were available for the 31 tournament matches.[16]Over 45,000 international visitors were forecast to visit Australia during the tournament.[17]Prices varied from $10 (for a seat behind the goals at a group match) to $150 (for a seat in the main stand at the final). In addition to individual match tickets, fans could buy packages to see all matches played at one specific venue.[18]

Team base camps

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Each team had a "team base camp" for its stay between the matches. From an initial list of 27 potential locations, the national associations chose their locations in 2014.[19]The teams trained and resided in these locations throughout the tournament, travelling to games staged away from their bases.[20]

Team Arrival Last match Base camp Group stage venues QF venues SF venues Final venue
Australia 29 December 31 January Melbourne Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane Brisbane Newcastle Sydney
Bahrain 22 December 19 January Ballarat Melbourne, Canberra & Sydney — — —
China 29 December 22 January Sydney Brisbane & Canberra Brisbane — —
Iran 31 December 23 January Sydney Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane Canberra — —
Iraq 1 January 30 January Canberra Brisbane & Canberra Canberra Sydney Newcastle
Japan 3 January 23 January Cessnock Newcastle, Brisbane & Melbourne Sydney — —
Jordan 23 December 20 January Melbourne Brisbane & Melbourne — — —
Kuwait 18 December 17 January Queanbeyan Melbourne, Canberra & Newcastle — — —
North Korea 15 December 18 January Canberra Sydney, Melbourne & Canberra — — —
Oman 28 December 17 January Sydney Canberra, Sydney & Newcastle — — —
Palestine 2 January 20 January Brisbane Newcastle, Melbourne & Canberra — — —
Qatar 28 December 19 January Canberra Canberra & Sydney — — —
Saudi Arabia 26 December 18 January Brisbane Brisbane & Melbourne — — —
South Korea 27 December 31 January Brisbane Canberra & Brisbane Melbourne Sydney Sydney
United Arab Emirates 26 December 30 January Gold Coast Canberra & Brisbane Sydney Newcastle Newcastle
Uzbekistan 3 January 22 January Melbourne Sydney, Brisbane & Melbourne Melbourne — —

Match ball

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Main article:Nike Ordem 2

TheNikeOrdem 2 was announced as the official 2015 Asian Cup match ball on 1 October 2014. The ball features the traditional colors of the tournament. The mainly white ball has a distinctive design with a mainly red graphic pattern and yellow details for better visibility. It shows the official 2015 AFC Asian Cup logo as well as a blackSwoosh.The ball provided a design for real flight, accuracy and control, and features Nike Aerowtrac grooves and a micro-textured casing. Nike RaDaR (Rapid Decision and Response) technology with a unique graphic upper is also utilised in the design to see the ball faster while the three-layer synthetic upper made for optimal touch.[21]

Ordem 2 was the Asian Cup's last match ball provided by Nike.

Match officials

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On 1 January 2015, the AFC named 47 match officials for the tournament, includingreferees,assistant referees,fourth officials, and reserve assistant referees. Each main refereeing team (of which there were eleven) consisted of three match officials from the same country: one referee and two assistant referees.[22]The AFC decided three match officials fromNew Zealandwould take part in the tournament, despite the country being in theOceania Football Confederation.Match officials based together in Sydney, during the Asian Cup, where they trained together, had technical meetings, conduct match reviews and previews, and only split when attending appointments at the five Asian Cup stadiums in Canberra, Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane and Melbourne.[23]Australian refereeChris Beath,who was a fourth official before the start of the tournament, was promoted for one match when Uzbek referee Valentin Kovalenko had to withdraw due to illness.[23]

Country Referee Assistant referees
Australia Ben Williams Matthew Cream
Paul Cetrangolo
Bahrain Nawaf Shukralla Yaser Tulefat
Ebrahim Saleh
Iran Alireza Faghani Reza Sokhandan
Mohammad Reza Abolfazli
Japan Ryuji Sato Toru Sagara
Toshiyuki Nagi
New Zealand Peter O'Leary Jan-Hendrik Hintz
Mark Rule
Oman Abdullah Al Hilali Hamad Al-Mayahi
Abu Bakar Al Amri
Qatar Abdulrahman Abdou Taleb Al-Marri
Ramzan Al-Naemi
Saudi Arabia Fahad Al-Mirdasi Badr Al-Shumrani
Abdulla Al Shalwai
South Korea Kim Jong-hyeok Jeong Hae-Sang
Yoon Kwang-Yeol
United Arab Emirates Abdulla Hassan Mohamed Mohamed Al Hammadi
Hasan Al Mahri
Uzbekistan Ravshan Irmatov Abdukhamidullo Rasulov
Bakhadyr Kochkarov (Kyrgyzstan)

Six match officials, who served as fourth officials, and eight reserve assistant referees, who served as fifth officials, were also named:

Squads

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Main article:2015 AFC Asian Cup squads

As with the2011 tournament,each team's squad consisted of 23 players (three of whom had to be goalkeepers). Each participating national association had to confirm their final 23-player squad no later than ten days before the start of the tournament.[24]Teams were permitted to make late replacements in the event of serious injury, at any time up to 6 hours before their first game. During a match, all remaining squad members not named in the starting team were available to be one of the three permitted substitutions (provided the player was not serving a suspension).

Group stage

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The group stage of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup took place from 9–20 January 2015: each team played three games, with the winners and runners-up from each group advancing to the knockout stage. The group stage was notable for finishing without a draw. In doing so, it became the first major international football tournament since the1930 FIFA World Cupto record a result for every group stage match. Additionally, it surpassed the record of consecutive results at a tournament – 18 – also set at the 1930 World Cup.[25][26][27]

Group A

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Opening match,AustraliavsKuwait
Main article:2015 AFC Asian Cup Group A
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 South Korea 3 3 0 0 3 0 +3 9 Advance toknockout stage
2 Australia(H) 3 2 0 1 8 2 +6 6
3 Oman 3 1 0 2 1 5 −4 3
4 Kuwait 3 0 0 3 1 6 −5 0
Source:Asian Cup Australia 2015
(H)Hosts
Australia4–1Kuwait
 Report
Attendance: 25,231
South Korea1–0Oman
 Report
Attendance: 12,552
Kuwait0–1South Korea
Report
Attendance: 8,795
Oman0–4Australia
Report
Attendance: 50,276
Referee:Ryuji Sato(Japan)
Australia0–1South Korea
Report
Attendance: 48,513
Oman1–0Kuwait
 Report
Attendance: 7,499

Group B

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Main article:2015 AFC Asian Cup Group B
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 China 3 3 0 0 5 2 +3 9 Advance toknockout stage
2 Uzbekistan 3 2 0 1 5 3 +2 6
3 Saudi Arabia 3 1 0 2 5 5 0 3
4 North Korea 3 0 0 3 2 7 −5 0
Source:Asian Cup Australia 2015
Uzbekistan1–0North Korea
 Report
Attendance: 12,078
Saudi Arabia0–1China
Report
Attendance: 12,557
North Korea1–4Saudi Arabia
 Report
Attendance: 12,349
China2–1Uzbekistan
 Report
Attendance: 13,674
Uzbekistan3–1Saudi Arabia
 Report
Attendance: 10,871
China2–1North Korea
 Report
Attendance: 18,457

Group C

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Melbourne Rectangular Stadiumduring theIranvsBahrainmatch
Main article:2015 AFC Asian Cup Group C
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Iran 3 3 0 0 4 0 +4 9 Advance toknockout stage
2 United Arab Emirates 3 2 0 1 6 3 +3 6
3 Bahrain 3 1 0 2 3 5 −2 3
4 Qatar 3 0 0 3 2 7 −5 0
Source:Asian Cup Australia 2015
United Arab Emirates4–1Qatar
 Report
Attendance: 5,513
Iran2–0Bahrain
 Report
Attendance: 17,712
Bahrain1–2United Arab Emirates
 Report
Attendance: 7,925
Qatar0–1Iran
Report
Attendance: 22,672
Iran1–0United Arab Emirates
 Report
Attendance: 11,394
Referee:Ryuji Sato(Japan)
Qatar1–2Bahrain
 Report
Attendance: 4,841

Group D

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Main article:2015 AFC Asian Cup Group D
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Japan 3 3 0 0 7 0 +7 9 Advance toknockout stage
2 Iraq 3 2 0 1 3 1 +2 6
3 Jordan 3 1 0 2 5 4 +1 3
4 Palestine 3 0 0 3 1 11 −10 0
Source:Asian Cup Australia 2015
Japan4–0Palestine
 Report
Attendance: 17,147
Jordan0–1Iraq
Report
Attendance: 6,840
Palestine1–5Jordan
 Report
Attendance: 10,808
Iraq0–1Japan
Report
Attendance: 22,941
Japan2–0Jordan
 Report
Attendance: 25,016
Iraq2–0Palestine
 Report
Attendance: 10,235

Knockout stage

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Main article:2015 AFC Asian Cup knockout stage
Newcastle Stadium prior the semi-final betweenAustraliaand theUAE.

In all matches in the knockout stage, if the score were level at the end of 90 minutes, two 15-minute periods ofextra timewould take place. If the score were still level after extra time, the match was decided by apenalty shoot-out.[24] Scores afterextra timeare indicated by (a.e.t.), andpenalty shoot-outare indicated by (pen.).

Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
22 January –Melbourne
South Korea(a.e.t.)2
26 January –Sydney
Uzbekistan0
South Korea2
23 January –Canberra
Iraq0
Iran3 (6)
31 January –Sydney
Iraq(p)3 (7)
South Korea1
22 January –Brisbane
Australia(a.e.t.)2
China0
27 January –Newcastle
Australia2
Australia2
23 January –Sydney
United Arab Emirates0 Third place
Japan1 (4)
30 January –Newcastle
United Arab Emirates(p)1 (5)
Iraq2
United Arab Emirates3

Quarter-finals

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With a 2–0 victory over Uzbekistan inextra 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 Iraq defeated Iran in a penalty shootout. The match had ended 3–3 after extra time, not before asending offwhich 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 since1996.

South Korea2–0(a.e.t.)Uzbekistan
Son Heung-min104',119' Report
Attendance: 23,381
China0–2Australia
Report Cahill48',65'
Attendance: 46,067
Iran3–3(a.e.t.)Iraq
Azmoun24'
Pouraliganji103'
Ghoochannejhad119'		 Report Yasin56'
Mahmoud93'
Ismail116' (pen.)
Penalties
Hajsafi
Pouraliganji
Nekounam
Hosseini
Ghafouri
Jahanbakhsh
Teymourian
Amiri		 6–7 Abdul-Amir
Salem
Ismail
Adnan
Mahmoud
Kasim
Hussein
Shaker
Attendance: 18,921
Japan1–1(a.e.t.)United Arab Emirates
Shibasaki81' Report Mabkhout7'
Penalties
Honda
Hasebe
Shibasaki
Toyoda
Morishige
Kagawa		 4–5 O. Abdulrahman
Mabkhout
Esmaeel
Hassan
Fardan
I. Ahmed
Attendance: 19,094

Semi-finals

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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 theAsian Football Confederationfrom theOceania Football Confederationin 2006.

South Korea2–0Iraq
Lee Jung-hyup20'
Kim Young-gwon50'		 Report
Attendance: 36,053
Referee:Ryuji Sato(Japan)
Australia2–0United Arab Emirates
Sainsbury3'
Davidson14'		 Report
Attendance: 21,079

Third place match

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This was both Iraq's and the United Arab Emirates' second appearances in a third place playoff at the AFC Asian Cup, with the teams contesting in1976and1992respectively. The United Arab Emirates won the match 3–2 and finished in third-place for the first time.

Iraq2–3United Arab Emirates
Salim28'
Kalaf42'		 Report Khalil16',51'
Mabkhout57' (pen.)
Attendance: 12,829

Final

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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.

South Korea1–2(a.e.t.)Australia
Son Heung-min90+1' Report Luongo45'
Troisi105'
Attendance: 76,385

Statistics

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See also:AFC Asian Cup records and statistics

Goalscorers

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Ali Mabkhout of the United Arab Emirates received the Golden Boot award for scoring five goals. In total, 85 goals were scored by 57 different players, with two of them credited as own goals.

5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal

Assists

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4 assists
3 assists
2 assists
1 assist

Discipline

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In the final tournament, a player was suspended for the subsequent match in the competition for either getting red card or accumulating two yellow cards in two different matches. The match review panel has the ability to increase the automatic one match ban for a red card (e.g. for violent conduct). Single yellow card cautions were erased at the conclusion of the quarter-finals, and were not carried over to the semi-finals (so that a player could only be suspended for the final by getting a red card in the semi-final). The following players were or are suspended during the final tournament – for one or more games – as a result of red cards or yellow card accumulations:

Player Offence Suspension
Fahad Awadh inqualificationvsIran
inqualificationvsIran 		Group A vsAustralia[28]
Islom Tukhtakhodjaev inqualificationvsUnited Arab Emirates Group B vsNorth Korea[29]
Ri Sang-chol Unsporting conduct towards a match official[a] Group B vsUzbekistan
Group B vsSaudi Arabia
Group B vsChina PR[30]
Fahad Al-Muwallad inqualificationvsChina PR
inqualificationvsIndonesia 		Group B vsChina PR[31]
Sun Ke inqualificationvsIraq
inqualificationvsIraq 		Group B vsSaudi Arabia[31]
Ahmed Harbi inGroup DvsJapan Group D vsJordan
Anas Bani Yaseen inGroup DvsIraq Group D vsPalestine
Ri Yong-jik inGroup BvsSaudi Arabia Group B vsChina PR
Ren Hang inGroup BvsSaudi Arabia
inGroup BvsUzbekistan 		Group B vsNorth Korea
Alaa Abdul-Zahra inGroup DvsJordan
inGroup DvsJapan 		Group D vsPalestine
Matthew Spiranovic inGroup AvsOman
inGroup AvsSouth Korea 		Quarter-final vsChina PR
Walid Abbas inGroup CvsQatar
inGroup CvsIran 		Quarter-final vsJapan
Mehrdad Pooladi inQuarter-finalvsIraq World Cup qualifyingvsTurkmenistan
Yaser Kasim inGroup DvsJordan
inQuarter-finalvsIran 		Semi-final vsSouth Korea
Ahmad Ibrahim inThird place matchvsUnited Arab Emirates World Cup qualifyingvsChinese Taipei

Awards

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Most Valuable Player
Top Goalscorer
Best Goalkeeper
Fair Play Award
Team of the tournament

Four players from both the winning Australian team and the runner-up Korean team were selected in the team of the tournament by the organization committee, while the other players included were from a team which progressed to the semi-finals.[32][33]

Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards

Mathew Ryan

Dhurgham Ismail
Kwak Tae-hwi
Trent Sainsbury
Cha Du-Ri

Massimo Luongo
Omar Abdulrahman
Ki Sung-Yeung

Ali Mabkhout
Tim Cahill
Son Heung-Min

Final standings

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Pos. Team G Pld W D L Pts GF GA GD
1 Australia A 6 5 0 1 15 14 3 +11
2 South Korea A 6 5 0 1 15 8 2 +6
3 United Arab Emirates C 6 3 1 2 10 10 8 +2
4 Iraq D 6 2 1 3 7 8 9 −1
Eliminated in the quarter-finals
5 Iran C 4 3 1 0 10 7 3 +4
6 Japan D 4 3 1 0 10 8 1 +7
7 China B 4 3 0 1 9 5 4 +1
8 Uzbekistan B 4 2 0 2 6 5 5 0
Eliminated in group stage
9 Jordan D 3 1 0 2 3 5 4 +1
10 Saudi Arabia B 3 1 0 2 3 5 5 0
11 Bahrain C 3 1 0 2 3 3 5 −2
12 Oman A 3 1 0 2 3 1 5 −4
13 Qatar C 3 0 0 3 0 2 7 −5
14 North Korea B 3 0 0 3 0 2 7 −5
15 Kuwait A 3 0 0 3 0 1 6 −5
16 Palestine D 3 0 0 3 0 1 11 −10

Source:AFC Technical Report

Records

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The 2015 Asian Cup achieved 26 consecutive matches without a draw, the most of any major football tournament, breaking the previous record of 18 set at the1930 FIFA World CupinUruguay.[34]

Ali Mabkhoutbroke the record for fastest goal at the AFC Asian Cup, scoring after just 14 seconds for theUnited Arab EmiratesagainstBahrainin their group stage match.[35]

Palestinemade its first ever appearance in the Asian Cup, andJaka Ihbeishehscored the nation's first ever goal in an Asian Cup in their second group match againstJordan.This goal also marked for the first time a Slovene scored in an Asian Cup game, as Jaka's being Slovenian descent.

With the title,Australiabecame the first men's national team to win titles in two different confederations, having won theOFC Nations Cupfour times before moving to the AFC.[36]Tim CahillandMark Brescianobecame the first men's players to win two different confederation titles, having previously won the2004 OFC Nations Cup.[37]By winning the Asian Cup, Australia also became the first country to simultaneously hold theAFC Asian CupandAFC Champions Leaguetitles, following the triumph ofWestern Sydney Wanderersin the2014 AFC Champions League.[38][39]

Marketing

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Trophy tour

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The Asian Cup on tour atFederation Square

The Trophy Tour commenced in China in September 2014, it then travelled to Qatar, United Arab Emirates, South Korea and Japan before arriving in Australia in December, where the trophy made it to all five 2015 AFC Asian Cup host cities.[40]

Opening ceremony

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Asian Cup opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup took place on 9 January, at theMelbourne Rectangular Stadium,before the opening match of the tournament between hosts Australia and Kuwait.[41]The ceremony was produced by a consortium of sport event specialists Twenty3 Sports + Entertainment and creative technology firm Spinifex Group. The consortium has worked on the main international sporting events including the2010 Winter Olympicsand the2008 Summer Olympicsopening ceremony.[42]The opening ceremony for the Asian Cup directed by Peter Nielson with Musical Direction byChong Lim,and featured performances by Australian DJ, singer and dancerHavana Brown,Australian indie pop bandSheppard,Indigenous Australian musicianGeoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu,and Australian hip-hop artists L-Fresh The Lion, Joelistics and Mistress of Ceremony.[43][44]It also featured 80 children from local junior football clubs and a performing cast of more than 120 Australian dancers, acrobats,Indigenousperformers andfootball freestylers.[45]

Logo and mascot

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Nutmeg the Wombat, mascot of the cup atFederation Square

The official logo for the tournament was unveiled at a special event in Melbourne, in October 2012. Designed by Sydney agency, WiteKite.[46]The logo depicts a stylised player, kicking a football from the east coast of Australia across country towards Asia. The ball also represents the Australian summer sun arcing west from Australia to Asia. The four golden bands forming the map of Australia represent the four host cities. The design is embraced by the AFC holding device.[47]

The mascot of the tournament, "Nutmeg the Wombat", was unveiled at theWild Life Sydney Zoo,on 11 November 2014.[48]The mascot, awombatnative to Australia, wore the colours of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, red and yellow. It was named after the football trick where a playerdribblesthe ball through an opponent's legs, known as anutmeg.

Song

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Theme song wasWarriorbyHavana Brown.

Sponsorship

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AFC announced ten official sponsors and six official supporters as shown below.[49]

Official sponsors Official supporters

Broadcasting

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The tournament was broadcast live by around 80 TV channels covering the whole world.[50]800 million people were expected to watch matches,[16]with the tournament reaching a potential TV audience of more than 2.5 billion people.[51]Below is the list of confirmed broadcasting right holders for 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

Territory Channel Ref
Arab League beIN Sports [50]
Asia-Pacific Fox International Channels [50]
Australia Fox Sports,ABC [52]
Brazil SporTV,Band [50]
China CCTV [53]
Europe Eurosport [50]
Hong Kong Now TV [53]
India Star Sports [53]
Indonesia Sindo TV [53]
Iran IRIB [53]
Japan TV Asahi,NHK BS1 [50]
Malaysia TV3 [50]
New Zealand Sky Sport [53]
North America ONE World Sports [50]
South Africa SABC [53]
South Korea KBS,SBS,MBC [50]
Thailand Channel 7 [50]
Philippines ABS-CBN Sports+Action [50]
United States One World Sports [54]
Uzbekistan SPORT-UZ [53]

Controversies

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Due to ahostage taking in Sydney in December 2014,security was increased for all team bases and stadiums, in addition to police escorts for all official activities.[55]

During adoping test,Jordan'sAhmad Hayelwas required to drink so much water to produce a urine sample, that he developedhypothermiaand was rendered unconscious.[56]Jordan coachRay Wilkinswas infuriated at Asian Cup officials over the procedure.[57]

On 24 January 2015, following the country's elimination from the tournament, it was revealed that theIranian Football Federation(FFIRI) had lodged a formal complaint toFIFAagainst their quarter-final opponent. The complaint was regarding the eligibility ofIraqimidfielderAlaa Abdul-Zahra,with the FFIRI arguing that the player should not have been allowed to play due to him submitting a positive doping test while playing for an Iranian club side in 2014. According to documents seen byAgence France-Presse,the 27-year-old tested positive for the banned stimulantmethylhexanamine,in results that were verified by aWADA-approved laboratory inCologne.[58]In an email exchange dated September 2014, FIFA promised to take action, but there is no record of a suspension for Abdul-Zahra.[58]TheIranian national teamremained in Australia whilst awaiting a response from FIFA and a final decision by the AFC disciplinary committee.[59]On 25 January, the AFC disciplinary committee decided that the FFIRI protest was unfounded, and, therefore, dismissed the case, with Iraq, cleared to take its place in their semi-final match against South Korea the following day.[60]

On 29 January 2015, after the defeat of Iraq and the United Arab Emirates during the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, West Asian Football Federation members reportedly sought to remove Australia from the AFC primarily due to "Australia benefiting hugely from Asian involvement without giving much in return", the resentment grew in the aftermath of Australia's conquest of the tournament.[61]

Notes

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  1. ^Offence committed in2012 Summer Olympics second round qualificationvsUnited Arab Emirates.

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