 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Australia |
| Dates | 9–31 January 2015 |
| Teams | 16 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue | 5 (in 5 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Australia (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  South Korea |
| Third place |  United Arab Emirates |
| Fourth place |  Iraq |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 32 |
| Goals scored | 85 (2.66 per match) |
| Attendance | 705,705 (22,053 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Ali Mabkhout (5 goals) |
| Best player | Massimo Luongo |
| Bestgoalkeeper | Mathew Ryan |
| Fair play award | Australia |
←2011 2019 → | |
Champion Runner-up | Third place Fourth place | Quarter-finals Group stage |
The2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men'sAFC Asian Cup, aquadrennial internationalfootball tournament organised by theAsian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held inAustralia from 9 to 31 January 2015.[1] The tournament was won byAustralia after defeatingSouth Korea 2–1in extra time in 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 Cup titles:1980,1996,2000 and2004; right after theAustralian women's team won 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]
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,Canberra andNewcastle. 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 thecontinent ofAsia. 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-elimination matches, 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 (Iraq and theUnited Arab Emirates). This was also the last time the tournament had a third-place match, as it wasn't played since the2019 edition.
Japan were the defending champions going into the tournament, having won theprevious competition in 2011. They recorded their worst finish in theAsian Cup since the1996 edition in the United Arab Emirates, being knocked out in the quarter-finals by that team in a penalty shootout.[4]
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 Australia in 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 Confederation has approved Australia as the host nation of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.
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 in2012 and2014 qualified automatically for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup finals.[9] The remaining spots were available for the teams competing in the main Asian Cup preliminaries. TheAFC decided 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]
Out of the sixteen teams that qualified, fourteen had participated in the2011 tournament.Oman qualified for the first time since2007.Palestine, winners of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup, were the only team making their first appearance in the tournament.India andSyria are 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 Federation qualified, nor did any of theSouth Asian national teams.
| 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 Cup winners | 25 January 2011 | 8th | 2011 | Winners (1992,2000,2004,2011) |
| South Korea | 2011 AFC Asian Cup 3rd place | 28 January 2011 | 13th | 2011 | Winners (1956,1960) |
 North Korea | 2012 AFC Challenge Cup winners | 19 March 2012 | 4th | 2011 | Fourth place (1980) |
 Bahrain | Group D winners | 15 November 2013 | 5th | 2011 | Fourth place (2004) |
| United Arab Emirates | Group E winners | 15 November 2013 | 9th | 2011 | Runners-up (1996) |
 Saudi Arabia | Group C winners | 15 November 2013 | 9th | 2011 | Winners (1984,1988,1996) |
 Oman | Group A winners | 19 November 2013 | 3rd | 2007 | Group stage (2004,2007) |
 Uzbekistan | Group E runners-up | 19 November 2013 | 6th | 2011 | Fourth place (2011) |
 Qatar | Group D runners-up | 19 November 2013 | 9th | 2011 | Quarter-finals (2000,2011) |
 Iran | Group B winners | 19 November 2013 | 13th | 2011 | Winners (1968,1972,1976) |
 Kuwait | Group B runners-up | 19 November 2013 | 10th | 2011 | Winners (1980) |
 Jordan | Group A runners-up | 4 February 2014 | 3rd | 2011 | Quarter-finals (2004,2011) |
| Iraq | Group C runners-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 Cup winners | 30 May 2014 | 1st | N/A | N/A |
The draw for the final tournament occurred at theSydney Opera House on 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 Cup winners (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) |
The five host cities for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup,Sydney,Melbourne,Brisbane,Canberra andNewcastle, 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 | ||
 | ||
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]
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 | — | — |
TheNike Ordem 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.
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 Zealand would 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:
|
|
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).
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 Cup to 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]
| Tiebreaking criteria for group stage |
|---|
The teams were ranked according topoints (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:[24]
|
.jpg)
| 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 |
| South Korea | 1–0 | Oman |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Kuwait | 0–1 | South Korea |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Oman | 1–0 | Kuwait |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| 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 |
| Uzbekistan | 1–0 | North Korea |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Saudi Arabia | 0–1 | China |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| North Korea | 1–4 | Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| China | 2–1 | Uzbekistan |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Uzbekistan | 3–1 | Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| China | 2–1 | North Korea |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| 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 |
| Iran | 1–0 | United Arab Emirates |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| 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 |
| Palestine | 1–5 | Jordan |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
In all matches in the knockout stage, if the score were level at the end of 90 minutes, two 15-minute periods ofextra time would take place. If the score were still level after extra time, the match was decided by apenalty shoot-out.[24]Scores afterextra time are indicated by (a.e.t.), andpenalty shoot-out are indicated by (pen.).
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| 22 January –Melbourne | ||||||||||
| South Korea(a.e.t.) | 2 | |||||||||
| 26 January –Sydney | ||||||||||
| Uzbekistan | 0 | |||||||||
| South Korea | 2 | |||||||||
| 23 January –Canberra | ||||||||||
| Iraq | 0 | |||||||||
| Iran | 3 (6) | |||||||||
| 31 January –Sydney | ||||||||||
| Iraq(p) | 3 (7) | |||||||||
| South Korea | 1 | |||||||||
| 22 January –Brisbane | ||||||||||
| Australia(a.e.t.) | 2 | |||||||||
| China | 0 | |||||||||
| 27 January –Newcastle | ||||||||||
| Australia | 2 | |||||||||
| Australia | 2 | |||||||||
| 23 January –Sydney | ||||||||||
| United Arab Emirates | 0 | Third place | ||||||||
| Japan | 1 (4) | |||||||||
| 30 January –Newcastle | ||||||||||
| United Arab Emirates(p) | 1 (5) | |||||||||
| Iraq | 2 | |||||||||
| United Arab Emirates | 3 | |||||||||
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 off which 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 Korea | 2–0 (a.e.t.) | Uzbekistan |
|---|---|---|
Son Heung-min 104',119' | Report |
| Japan | 1–1 (a.e.t.) | United Arab Emirates |
|---|---|---|
| Shibasaki 81' | Report | Mabkhout 7' |
| Penalties | ||
Honda Hasebe  Shibasaki Toyoda Morishige Kagawa | 4–5 | O. AbdulrahmanMabkhoutEsmaeelHassanFardanI. Ahmed |
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 Confederation from theOceania Football Confederation in 2006.
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 in1976 and1992 respectively. The United Arab Emirates won the match 3–2 and finished in third-place for the first time.
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 Korea | 1–2 (a.e.t.) | Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Son Heung-min 90+1' | Report | Luongo 45' Troisi 105' |
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.
Jason DavidsonMile JedinakTomi JuricRobbie KruseMatt McKayMark MilliganTrent SainsburySayed Jaafar AhmedJaycee John OkwunwanneSayed SaeedWu XiYu HaiEhsan HajsafiMorteza PouraliganjiMasoud ShojaeiDhurgham IsmailAmjad KalafYaser KasimWaleed SalemYasuhito EndōShinji KagawaShinji OkazakiGaku ShibasakiMaya YoshidaYousef Al-RawashdehHussain FadhelRyang Yong-giAbdulaziz Al-MuqbaliJaka IhbeishehHassan Al-HaydosKhalfan IbrahimNawaf Al AbedNaif HazaziCho Young-cheolKim Young-gwonNam Tae-heeOdil AhmedovIgor SergeevVokhid ShodievMohamed Husain (against United Arab Emirates)Gao Lin (against North Korea)Jason DavidsonMatthew LeckieTrent SainsburyTomi JuricGao LinZheng ZhiJiang ZhipengAshkan DejagahVouria GhafouriAli AdnanDhurgham IsmailAmjad KalafWaleed SalemAhmed YasinKeisuke HondaTakashi InuiYoshinori MutoHamza Al-DardourSaeed MurjanOday ZahranAbdulaziz Al Misha'anMohammed Al-SiyabiNawaf Al AbedAbdullah Al-ZoriKi Sung-yuengLee Jung-hyupLee Keun-hoServer DjeparovJasur HasanovTimur KapadzeShavkat MullajanovIn 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:
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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
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 Cup inUruguay.[34]
Ali Mabkhout broke the record for fastest goal at the AFC Asian Cup, scoring after just 14 seconds for theUnited Arab Emirates againstBahrain in their group stage match.[35]
Palestine made its first ever appearance in the Asian Cup, andJaka Ihbeisheh scored 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,Australia became the first men's national team to win titles in two different confederations, having won theOFC Nations Cup four times before moving to the AFC.[36]Tim Cahill andMark Bresciano became 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 Cup andAFC Champions League titles, following the triumph ofWestern Sydney Wanderers in the2014 AFC Champions League.[38][39]
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]
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 Olympics and the2008 Summer Olympics opening 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,Indigenous performers andfootball freestylers.[45]
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, awombat native to Australia, wore the colours of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, red and yellow. It was named after the football trick where a playerdribbles the ball through an opponent's legs, known as anutmeg.[citation needed]
Theme song wasWarrior byHavana Brown.[49]
AFC announced ten official sponsors and six official supporters as shown below.[50]
| Official sponsors | Official supporters |
|---|---|
The tournament was broadcast live by around 80 TV channels covering the whole world.[51] 800 million people were expected to watch matches,[16] with the tournament reaching a potential TV audience of more than 2.5 billion people.[52] Below is the list of confirmed broadcasting right holders for 2015 AFC Asian Cup.
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.[56]
During adoping test,Jordan'sAhmad Hayel was required to drink so much water to produce a urine sample, that he developedhypothermia and was rendered unconscious.[57] Jordan coachRay Wilkins was infuriated at Asian Cup officials over the procedure.[58]
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 toFIFA against their quarter-final opponent. The complaint was regarding the eligibility ofIraqi midfielderAlaa 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.[59] In an email exchange dated September 2014, FIFA promised to take action, but there is no record of a suspension for Abdul-Zahra.[59] TheIranian national team remained in Australia whilst awaiting a response from FIFA and a final decision by the AFC disciplinary committee.[60] 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.[61]
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.[62]
The second semi is set to be played a day later at Newcastle's Hunter Stadium, which has a capacity of just 23,000.
2015 AFC Asian Cup finalists | |
|---|---|
| Champions | |
| Runners-up | |
| Third place | |
| Fourth place | |
| Quarter-finals | |
| Group stage | |
