2007 Asian Cup
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Piala Asia 2007 (Indonesian, Malaysian) เอเชียนคัพ 2007 (Thai) Cúp bóng đá châu Á 2007 (Viet) |
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Logo of the 2007 Asian Cup
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| Tournament details | |
| Host country |
 Indonesia Malaysia Thailand Vietnam
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| Dates | 7 – 29 July |
| Teams | 16 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 8 (in 7 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |
 Iraq (1st title)
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| Runners-up |  Saudi Arabia |
| Third place |  South Korea |
| Fourth place |  Japan |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 32 |
| Goals scored | 84 (2.63 per match) |
| Attendance | 724,222 (22,632 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |
Yasser Al-Qahtani Younis Mahmoud Naohiro Takahara (4 goals each) |
| Best player |
Younis Mahmoud
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| Fair play award | Japan |
The 2007 AFC Asian Cup finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its history, the competition was co-hosted by four nations: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. For the first time in the nation's history, Iraq won the continental title after it defeated Saudi Arabia 1–0 in the final. As the winner, Iraq represented the AFC in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.
Before 2007 and every four years, Asia often held its continental tournament from 1956 until China in 2004. With the Summer Olympic Games and the European Football Championship also held in the same year as the Asian Cup, the AFC changed their tradition. Beginning in 2007, Asia will hold its continental tournament a year earlier, and every four years henceforth from that date.
An estimated worldwide television audience of 650 million people tuned in to watch the 2007 AFC Asian Cup.
Australia participated for the first time since moving to the AFC from the OFC. Australia happened to also be the tournament's first nation aside from the co-hosts to qualify for the 2007 Asian Cup.
Mohammed Bin Hammam proposed and presented a move to have four host nations for the 2007 Asian Cup. However, he later regretted this decision and called it his "mistake", citing the financial and logistic difficulties in organising an event across four countries. He said that "It is proving very difficult for [the executive committee as they] have to have four organising committees, four media centres and there are also financial considerations." He also revealed that "[He would] definitely [not do] it [again]", if he had the choice.
In June 2005, the Asian Football Confederation warned Thailand that it needed to improve its facilities before 2007, otherwise it would be dropped, possibly being replaced with Singapore. On 12 August of the same year, the AFC confirmed that Thailand would be a co-host of the 2007 Asian Cup. However, in October 2006, Thailand was again warned to improve its facilities in 90 days.
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