Tournament details | |
---|---|
Host country | Australia |
Dates | 9–31 January |
Teams | 16 (from 1 confederation) |
Venue(s) | 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 |
Best goalkeeper | Mathew Ryan |
Fair play award | Australia |
The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The tournament was won by Australia after defeating South Korea 2–1 in extra time in the final, thereby earning the right to participate in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, which is to be hosted by Russia. The win was Australia's first Asian title since their move from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) in 2006. It was also the first time a men's team has become champions of two confederations, following Australia's four OFC Nations Cup titles: 1980, 1996, 2000 and 2004; following right after the Australian women's team won the 2010 AFC Women's Asian Cup 5 years ago.
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 and Newcastle. 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 the continent of Asia. 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 the previous Asian Cup) were decided through a qualification process, featuring 44 teams, from February 2013 to March 2014.