Asian Cup 2024: Dates, schedule, history & more

The Asian Cup has produced different winners in each of its last four renewals, and the latest tournament to determine the top national team of the Asian Football Federation will take place early in 2024.

Defending champions Qatar will be the hosts this time as they aim for back-to-back successes in the 24-team competition.

The games will be played in nine stadiums across five cities in the tournament, which kicks off on 12th January, 2024.

Asian Cup Dates

The first game of the tournament will be Qatar v Lebanon in Lusail Stadium, Lusail, on 12th January, 2024. The final group games are due to be played on 25th January.

The six group winners, plus the four best third-placed teams, will advance to the round of 16. 

Those games will be played from 28th-31st January, with the quarter-finals on 2nd-3rd February, the semi-finals on 6th-7th February and the final, again in Lusail, on 10th February.

Asian Cup Times

The opening game has a 16:00 GMT kick-off, but the majority of the group games will be played in 11.30 GMT, 14:30 GMT and 17:30 GMT time slots, until some 15:00 GMT games in the final round of group matches.

The last-16 games will be played at 11.30 GMT and 16:00 GMT, with the quarter-finals at 11.30 GMT and 15.30 GMT and the semi-finals and final kicking off at 15:00 GMT.

Asian Cup Locations

Seven of the nine stadiums that will be used for the Asian Cup hosted games at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. 

Four of the venues are in Al-Rayyan - the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Education City Stadium, Jassim bin Hamad Stadium and Khalifa International Stadium, with two in Doha - the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium and the Al Thumama Stadium. 

Three other cities have one stadium each, the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor and Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah.

The Jassim bin Hamad and Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadiums are the only two that did not host World Cup games.

Asian Cup teams

A field of 24 teams will compete for the 2024 Asian Cup with the group draw as follows:

Group A	Qatar	China	Tajikistan	Lebanon
Group B	Australia	Uzbekistan	Syria	India
Group C	Iran	UAE	Hong Kong	Palestine
Group D	Japan	Indonesia	Iraq	Vietnam
Group E	South Korea	Malaysia	Jordan	Bahrain
Group F	Saudi Arabia	Thailand	Kyrgyzstan	Oman

Asian Cup winners

Japan has the most Asian Cup wins with four, while Saudi Arabia and Iran have won three times each and South Korea are the other multiple winners with two wins. 

Israel, Kuwait, Australia, Iraq and Qatar have won once each. 

Three of the last four tournaments have been won by first-time champions in Iraq (2007), Australia (2015) and Qatar (2019).

Asian Cup How to watch

No UK broadcaster has yet been confirmed for the event.

Asian Cup odds

No odds are currently available for the Asian Cup.

Any odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to fluctuation.