The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

, a quadrennial international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

tournament organised by the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

(AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The tournament was won by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

after defeating

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

2–1 in extra time in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, thereby earning the right to participate in the

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 20 ...

, which was hosted by

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. The win was Australia's first Asian title since their move from the

Oceania Football Confederation The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It ...

(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 The OFC Nations Cup is an international association football tournament held among the OFC member nations. It was held every two years from 1996 to 2004; before 1996 there were two other tournaments held at irregular intervals, under the name ...

titles:

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

; right after the Australian women's team won the 2010 AFC Women's 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 Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

and

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after 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 A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. 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. 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 in

single-elimination A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

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 Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

were the defending champions going into the tournament, having won the previous competition in 2011. They recorded their worst finish in the Asian Cup since the 1996 edition in the United Arab Emirates, being knocked out in the quarter-finals by that team in a penalty shootout.

Host selection

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

Teams

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 the

2011 AFC Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the fifte ...

, and the two winners of the

AFC Challenge Cup The AFC Challenge Cup was an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries that was categorized as "emerging countries" in the "Vision Asia" programme. "Vision Asia", created by former AFC president, ...

. 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. 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 in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

qualified automatically for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup finals. The remaining spots were available for the teams competing in the main Asian Cup preliminaries. The AFC 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.

Qualified teams

Out of the sixteen teams that qualified, fourteen had participated in the 2011 tournament.

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

qualified for the first time since 2007.

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

, winners of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup, were the only team making their first appearance in the tournament.

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

are the only two teams from the 2011 tournament who failed to qualify for the subsequent edition. Excluding hosts

, none of the other 11 members of the

ASEAN Football Federation The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) is an organisation within the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and is an international governing body of association football in Southeast Asia. It consists of the federations of Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, ...

qualified, nor did any of the

South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, ...

national teams. 2015 AFC Asian Cup Qualification

Draw

The draw for the final tournament occurred at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

on 26 March 2014. The draw procedure involved the 16 participating teams drawn at random into the four groups of the group stage. In preparation for this, the teams were organised into four pots based on a seeding which used the March 2014

FIFA World Rankings The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, led by Brazil . The teams of the men's member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the ...

(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. In addition, at the time of the draw, the identity of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup winners (Palestine) was not known yet, and they were automatically placed into Pot 4.

Venues

Stadiums

The five host cities for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup,

and

, were announced on 27 March 2013, with a total five stadiums to be used.

Ticketing

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. Over 45,000 international visitors were forecast to visit Australia during the tournament. 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.

Team base camps

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. The teams trained and resided in these locations throughout the tournament, travelling to games staged away from their bases.

Match ball

The

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

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 black

Swoosh The Swoosh is the logo of American sportswear designer and retailer Nike. Today, it has become one of the most recognizable brand logos in the world, and the most valuable, having a worth of $26 billion alone. Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight fou ...

. 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.

Match officials

On 1 January 2015, the AFC named 47 match officials for the tournament, including

referees A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

, 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. The AFC decided three match officials from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

would take part in the tournament, despite the country being in the

. 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. Australian referee

Chris Beath Chris James Beath (born 17 November 1984) is an Australian Association football, football Referee (association football), referee in the A-League. Refereeing career He has refereed at the National Youth Championships in 2003 and in 2004. 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. * Final referee. Six match officials, who served as fourth officials, and eight reserve assistant referees, who served as fifth officials, were also named:

Squads

As with the 2011 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. 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

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 the

1930 FIFA World Cup The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 to 30 July 1930. FIFA, football's international governing body, selected Uruguay as host nation ...

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.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Knockout stage

In all matches in the knockout stage, if the score were level at the end of 90 minutes, two 15-minute periods of

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

would take place. If the score were still level after extra time, the match was decided by a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. Scores after

are indicated by (a.e.t.), and

are indicated by (pen.).

Quarter-finals

With a 2–0 victory over Uzbekistan in

, 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 a sending 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 since

. ---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

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 the

from the

in 2006. ----

Third place match

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 in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

and

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

respectively. The United Arab Emirates won the match 3–2 and finished in third-place for the first time.

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.

Statistics

Goalscorers

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 *

Ali Mabkhout Ali Ahmed Mabkhout Mohsen Al Hajeri ( ar, علي أحمد مبخوت محسن الهاجري; born 5 October 1990) is an Emirati professional association football player who plays for UAE Pro League club Al Jazira Club, Al Jazira and the United A ...

;4 goals * Hamza Al-Dardour *

Ahmed Khalil Ahmed Khalil Sebait Mubarak Al-Junaibi ( ar, أحمد خليل سبيت مبارك الجنيبي; born 8 June 1991) is an UAE, Emirati Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Al Bataeh Club, ...

;3 goals *

Tim Cahill Timothy Filiga Cahill (; born 6 December 1979) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder but also played as a striker on many occasions. A box-to-box midfielder, Cahill became recognised for "his ag ...

* Sun Ke *

Keisuke Honda is a Japanese professional football manager and former player. he is the current general manager & head coach of the Cambodia U-23. A versatile player, Honda usually played as an attacking midfielder, but could also play as a winger, a fa ...

Mohammad Al-Sahlawi Mohammad Ibrahim Mohammad Al-Sahlawi ( ar, محمد ابراهيم محمد السهلاوي; born 10 January 1987) is a Saudi Arabian professional footballer who plays as a striker. Al-Sahlawi won the best player of the league twice in a row in ...

Son Heung-min Son Heung-min ( ko, 손흥민; ; born 8 July 1992) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and captains the South Korea national team. Considered one of the best forwards i ...

;2 goals * Massimo Luongo *

James Troisi James Troisi ( ; born 3 July 1988) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Western United. Early life Troisi was born in Rose Park, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, to Greek parent ...

Sardar Azmoun Sardar Azmoun ( fa, سردار آزمون (Sardâr Âzmôn); born 1 January 1995) is an Iranian professional association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Bayer L ...

Reza Ghoochannejhad Reza Ghoochannejhad Nournia ( fa, رضا قوچان‌نژاد نورنیا; born 20 September 1987) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is also known as Gucci in Belgium and Netherlands. Having played for the Nether ...

Younis Mahmoud Younis Mahmoud Khalaf ( ar, يونس محمود خلف; born 3 February 1983) is an Iraqi former professional footballer who played as a forward for the Iraq national football team and is currently the second vice-president of the Iraq Footbal ...

Ahmed Yasin Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin ( ar, الشيخ أحمد إسماعيل حسن ياسين; 1 January 1937 – 22 March 2004) was a Palestinian politician and imam who founded Hamas, a militant Islamist and Palestinian nationalist organi ...

* Lee Jung-hyup *

Sardor Rashidov Sardor Rashidov Ikhtiyorovich ( Uzbek Cyrillic: Сардор Рашидов Ихтиёрович; born 14 June 1991) is an Uzbek professional footballer who plays as a winger for QSL side Umm Salal and the Uzbekistan national team. Club career ...

;1 goal *

Jason Davidson Jason Alan Davidson (born 29 June 1991) is an Australian professional Soccer player who plays as a defender for Belgian club Eupen. Club career Hume City On 26 January 2009, he signed with Victorian Premier League club Hume City, becoming t ...

Mile Jedinak Michael John "Mile" Jedinak (; ; born 3 August 1984) is an Australian former professional footballer who served as the captain of the Australia national team. He is currently the Loan Player Development Coach at Aston Villa. Jedinak was born a ...

Tomi Juric Tomi Juric ( ; hr, Jurić, ; born 22 July 1991) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a striker for A-League club Melbourne Victory and the Australia national soccer team. Club career Adelaide United On 10 February 2013, aft ...

Robbie Kruse Robbie Thomas Kruse ( ; ; born 5 October 1988) is an Australian professional footballer who last played as a forward for Melbourne Victory and the Australia national team. He played his junior football with Albany Creek in the Pine Rivers distr ...

Matt McKay Matthew Graham McKay (born 11 January 1983) is a retired Australian professional footballer who last played for Australian A-League club Brisbane Roar, and previously with the Australian national team. McKay currently holds the club's recor ...

Mark Milligan Mark Daniel Milligan (born 4 August 1985) is an Australian former professional footballer. Starting his career as a defender, Milligan has spent much of his later career playing as a midfielder. He is currently a football expert commentary and ...

Trent Sainsbury Trent Lucas Sainsbury (born 5 January 1992) is an Australian professional football player who plays as a centre back for Qatari club Al-Wakrah and the Australian national team. Sainsbury was born in Thornlie, Perth and played youth football ...

* Sayed Jaafar Ahmed *

Jaycee John Okwunwanne Jaycee John "JoJo" Okwunwanne (born 8 October 1985) is a Nigerian footballer who was naturalized to represent Bahrain internationally and plays as a striker. He started his youth career with Osaka Lagos and was coached by Nigerian exinternational ...

Sayed Saeed Sayed Dhiya Saeed Ebrahim Alawi Shubbar ( ar, سيد ضياء سيد سعيد, born July 17, 1992 in Muharraq, Bahrain) is a Bahraini footballer who plays for Al-Riffa in Bahraini Premier League The Bahraini Premier League is the main football ...

* Wu Xi *

Yu Hai Yu Hai (; ; born 4 June 1987) is a Chinese footballer who currently plays for Shanghai SIPG in the Chinese Super League. Club career Yu Hai started his football career with Shaanxi Chanba in the 2004 season and he made his debut for the club ...

Ehsan Hajsafi Ehsan Hajsafi ( fa, احسان حاج‌صفی; born 25 February 1990) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Greek Super League club AEK Athens and captains the Iran national team. Hajsafi is regarded as a utility ...

Morteza Pouraliganji Morteza Pouraliganji ( fa, مرتضی پورعلی‌گنجی; born 19 April 1992) is an Iranian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre-back for Persian Gulf Pro League cl ...

Masoud Shojaei Masoud (; ) is a given name and surname, with origins in Persian and Arabic. The name is found in the Arab world, Iran, Turkey, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Russia, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and China. Masoud has spelling varia ...

Dhurgham Ismail Dhurgham Ismail Dawoud Al-Quraishi ( ar, ضرغام إسماعيل داوود القريشي; born 23 May 1994), known as Dhurgham Ismail, is an Iraqi professional footballer who plays as a left back or left winger for Iraqi Premier League club ...

* Amjad Kalaf * Yaser Kasim * Waleed Salem *

Yasuhito Endō is a Japanese footballer who plays for J1 League club Júbilo Iwata. His brother Akihiro Endō is a former footballer. He made his senior international debut in 2002, representing Japan in three World Cups and three Confederations Cups. In t ...

Shinji Kagawa Shinji Kagawa ( ja, 香川真司 ''Kagawa Shinji'' ; born 17 March 1989) is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Belgian First Division A club Sint-Truiden and the Japan national team. He is widely regarded as one o ...

Shinji Okazaki is a Japanese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward or attacking midfielder for Belgian club Sint-Truidense V.V., Sint-Truiden. Internationally, he is currently the top active Japa ...

Gaku Shibasaki is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Spanish club Leganés and the Japanese national team. Club career Early career Born in Noheji, Aomori, Japan, Shibasaki began playing in his first year at elementary school. O ...

Maya Yoshida is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Bundesliga club Schalke 04 and captains the Japan national team. Club career Nagoya Grampus Born in Nagasaki, Japan, Yoshida began playing football at Nanling FC in his secon ...

Yousef Al-Rawashdeh Yousef Ahmad Mohammad Al-Rawashdeh ( ar, يوسف أحمد محمد الرواشدة) is a Jordanian footballer who plays for the Jordan national football team. International career Being born in the UAE, he was able to represent both Jordan and ...

* Hussain Fadhel * Ryang Yong-gi * Abdulaziz Al-Muqbali *

Jaka Ihbeisheh Jaka Ihbeisheh ( ar, ياكا حبيشة; born 29 August 1986) is a retired footballer. Born in Slovenia, he represented Palestine internationally. International career In 2014, Ihbeisheh made his debut for the Palestinian national team. He wa ...

Hassan Al-Haydos Hassan Khalid Hassan Al-Haydos ( ar, حسن خالد حسن الهيدوس; born 11 December 1990) is a Qatari professional footballer who plays as a forward for Qatar Stars League club Al Sadd and the Qatar national team. Club career Al- ...

Khalfan Ibrahim Khalfan Ibrahim Khalfan Al Khalfan ( ar, خلفان إبراهيم خلفان; born 18 February 1988, in Doha) is a retired Qatari international footballer who played as a winger. He was named the Asian Player of the Year in 2006, becoming the ...

Nawaf Al Abed Nawaf Shaker Fayrouz Al-Abed ( ar, نواف شاكر فيروز العابد; born 26 January 1990) is a Saudi Arabian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Al Shabab and the Saudi Arabia national team. Club career Al-Hilal In 20 ...

Naif Hazazi Naif Ahmad Hazazi ( ar, نايف أحمد هزازي; born 27 July 1988), also nicknamed ''Al Saqr'' which means ''The Falcon'', is a Saudi Arabian professional footballer, who plays as a striker former the Saudi Arabia national team. Persona ...

* Cho Young-cheol *

Kim Young-gwon Kim Young-gwon ( ko, 김영권; born 27 February 1990) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays for Ulsan Hyundai and the South Korea national football team. Early life Kim is a native of Jeonju. When he was in middle school, he wa ...

Nam Tae-hee Nam Tae-hee (Hangul: 남태희; Hanja: 南泰熙; ; born 3 July 1991 in Busan) is a South Korean footballer currently playing for Al-Duhail and the South Korea national team. Besides South Korea, he has played in England, France, and Qata ...

Odil Ahmedov Odil Akhmedov ( Uzbek Cyrillic: Одил Аҳмедов; born 25 November 1987) is a former Uzbek professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He represented Uzbekistan national team. Club career Early years Born in Namangan P ...

* Igor Sergeev *

Vokhid Shodiev Vokhid Shodiev (born 9 November 1986) is an Uzbekistan, Uzbek association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), forward for FC Qizilqum Zarafshon. Career Shodiev in 2010–11 played for Neftchi Farg'ona. Since 2012 ...

;1 own goal * Mohamed Husain (against United Arab Emirates) *

Gao Lin Gao Lin (; born 14 February 1986) is a Chinese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Chinese Super League club Shenzhen. He is the all-time top goalscorer for Guangzhou Evergrande – his previous club – with 113 goals, and ha ...

(against North Korea)

Assists

;4 assists * Massimo Luongo *

Omar Abdulrahman Omar Abdulrahman Ahmed Al Raqi Al Amoudi ( ar, عمر عبد الرحمن أحمد الراقي العمودي; born 20 September 1991) is an Emirati professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Emirati club Al Wasl F.C. and ...

;3 assists *

Faouzi Aaish Faouzi Mubarak Aaish ( ar, فوزي مبارك عايش; born 27 February 1985) is a Bahraini professional football player of Moroccan origin. He is currently a free agent and the Bahrain national football team. International career Born in Mo ...

Andranik Teymourian Andranik Timotian-Samarani, commonly known as Andranik "Ando" Teymourian ( hy, Անդրանիկ Թէյմուրեան; fa, آندرانيک تیموریان, Ândrânik Teymuryân, born 6 March 1983) is an Iranian retired professional footballer ...

;2 assists * Ivan Franjic * Alaa Abdul-Zahra *

* Abdallah Deeb * Cha Du-ri * Kim Jin-su *

Amer Abdulrahman Amer Abdul Rahman Abdullah Hussein Al Hamadi ( ar, عامر عبد الرحمن عبد الله حسين الحمادي; born 3 July 1989), commonly known as Amer Abdulrahman, is an Emirati footballer who plays as a central midfielder for the ...

;1 assist *

* Matthew Leckie *

Zheng Zhi Zheng Zhi (; born 20 August 1980) is a Chinese professional footballer and manager who played most of his career for Chinese Super League club Guangzhou F.C., becoming their captain and serving also as their caretaker manager in two stints. A ...

Jiang Zhipeng Jiang Zhipeng (; born 6 March 1989) is a Chinese footballer who currently plays for Shenzhen in the Chinese Super League. Club career Jiang Zhipeng started his football career when he joined the Genbao Football Academy in 2000 and was promote ...

Ashkan Dejagah Seyed Ashkan Dejagah ( fa, سید اشكان دژآگه, born 5 July 1986), known as Ashkan Dejagah, is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Persian Gulf Pro League club Foolad. He represented Germany at youth level ...

* Vouria Ghafouri * Ali Adnan *

* Amjad Kalaf * Waleed Salem *

Takashi Inui is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a winger or an attacking midfielder for Shimizu S-Pulse and the Japan national team. Club career Inui was an All Japan High School Soccer Tournament champion in 2006 when his high school, Shi ...

* Yoshinori Muto * Hamza Al-Dardour * Saeed Murjan *

Oday Zahran Oday Samir Zahran ( ar, عدي سمير زهران) is a Jordanian footballer who plays for Al-Faisaly and the Jordan national football team. International career Zahran's first international match with the Jordan national senior team was again ...

* Abdulaziz Al Misha'an * Mohammed Al-Siyabi *

* Abdullah Al-Zori *

Ki Sung-yueng Ki Sung-yueng (Hangul: ; Hanja: ; ; born 24 January 1989) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder or a defensive midfielder for the K League 1 club FC Seoul. From 2008 to 2019, Ki was a full international f ...

* Lee Jung-hyup * Lee Keun-ho *

Server Djeparov Server Reshatovich Djeparov ( Uzbek: ''Server Jeparov'', Uzbek Cyrillic: Сервер Жепаров, crh, Server Reşat oğlu Ceparov; born 3 October 1982), is an Uzbek former professional football playmaker who is the head coach of Uzbekist ...

* Jasur Hasanov *

Timur Kapadze Timur Kapadze ( uz, Temur Kapadze; russian: Тимур Кападзе; tr, Timur Kapadze, ka, თემურ კაპაძე) is an Uzbekistani former professional association football, football midfielder of Ahiska Turks, Ahiska-Turkish de ...

Shavkat Mullajanov Shavkat Mullajanov ( uz, Шавкатжон Муллажонов; born 19 January 1986) is an Uzbek professional football player who currently plays for Uzbekistan national football team. His position is center back, but he can also play as a ...

Discipline

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:

Awards

;Team of the tournament According to the official Twitter of the AFC Asian Cup organization committee, four players from both the winning Australian team and the runner-up Korean team were selected in the team of the tournament while all other players included were from a team which progressed to the semi-finals. ;Player of the Tournament * Massimo Luongo ;Golden Boot *

;Golden Glove *

Mathew Ryan Mathew David Ryan (born 8 April 1992) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Danish club F.C. Copenhagen and captains the Australia national team. Born in Sydney, Ryan played youth football for Marconi Stallion ...

;Fair Play Award *

Final standings

, - , colspan="11", Eliminated in the quarter-finals , - , - , colspan="11", Eliminated in group stage , -

Records

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 the

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

broke the record for fastest goal at the AFC Asian Cup, scoring after just 14 seconds for the

against

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

in their group stage match.

made its first ever appearance in the Asian Cup, and

scored the nation's first ever goal in an Asian Cup in their second group match against

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. 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,

became the first men's national team to win titles in two different confederations, having won the

four times before moving to the AFC.

and

Mark Bresciano Mark Bresciano ( ; ; born 11 February 1980) is an Australian former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. Born in Melbourne, Bresciano played youth football for Bulleen Lions, before moving into the National Soccer League w ...

became the first men's players to win two different confederation titles, having previously won the

2004 OFC Nations Cup The 2004 OFC Nations Cup was the edition of the tournament for the OFC Nations Cup and doubled as the qualification tournament to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, except the two-legged final. A separate playoff between Australia and Solomon Islands wa ...

. By winning the Asian Cup, Australia also became the first country to simultaneously hold the

and

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

titles, following the triumph of

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

in the

2014 AFC Champions League The 2014 AFC Champions League was the 33rd edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 12th under the current AFC Champions League title. Guangzhou Evergrande were the defe ...

Marketing

Trophy tour

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.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup took place on 9 January, at the

Melbourne Rectangular Stadium The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, known as AAMI Park for sponsorship reasons, is an outdoor sports stadium on the site of Edwin Flack Field in the Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the Melbourne central business district. When completed ...

, before the opening match of the tournament between hosts Australia and Kuwait. 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 the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

and the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

opening ceremony. The opening ceremony for the Asian Cup directed by Peter Nielson with Musical Direction by

Chong Lim Chong Voon Lim (born Ipoh, Malaysia) is a Malaysian-born Australian-based musical director, keyboardist, producer, and session musician. Lim attended St. Michael's Institution for secondary education. He relocated to Melbourne, Australia in 1977 ...

, and featured performances by Australian DJ, singer and dancer

Havana Brown The Havana Brown was the result of a planned breeding between Siamese and domestic black cats, by a group of cat fanciers in England, in the 1950s. Early breeders introduced a Siamese type Russian Blue into their breeding. However, using curre ...

, Australian indie pop band Sheppard, Indigenous Australian musician

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu (22 January 1971 – 25 July 2017), commonly known as Gurrumul and also referred to since his death as Dr G. Yunupingu, was an Aboriginal Australian musician of the Yolŋu peoples. A multi-instrumentalist, he played ...

, and Australian hip-hop artists L-Fresh The Lion, Joelistics and Mistress of Ceremony. It also featured 80 children from local junior football clubs and a performing cast of more than 120 Australian dancers, acrobats,

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

performers and football freestylers.

Logo and mascot

The official logo for the tournament was unveiled at a special event in Melbourne, in October 2012. Designed by Sydney agency, WiteKite. 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. The mascot of the tournament, "Nutmeg the Wombat", was unveiled at the Wild Life Sydney Zoo, on 11 November 2014. The mascot, a

wombat Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials that are native to Australia. They are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . All three of the extant species are members of the family Vombatidae. They are adap ...

native to Australia, wore the colours of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, red and yellow. It was named after the football trick where a player dribbles the ball through an opponent's legs, known as a

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus ''Myristica''. ''Myristica fragrans'' (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, an ...

Song

Theme song was

Warrior A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

Sponsorship

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

Broadcasting

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

Concerns and controversies

Due to a hostage taking in Sydney in December 2014, security was increased for all team bases and stadiums, in addition to police escorts for all official activities. During a

doping test A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, or oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites. Major applications of drug ...

's Ahmad Hayel was required to drink so much water to produce a urine sample, that he developed

hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe h ...

and was rendered unconscious. Jordan coach

Ray Wilkins Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gra ...

was infuriated at Asian Cup officials over the procedure. On 24 January 2015, following the country's elimination from the tournament, it was revealed that the

Iranian Football Federation The Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) ( fa, فدراسیون فوتبال جمهوری اسلامی ایران, Federâsion-è Futbâl-è Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Irân) is the governing body of association football in Iran. Formed ...

(FFIRI) had lodged a formal complaint to

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

against their quarter-final opponent. The complaint was regarding the eligibility of Iraqi midfielder Alaa 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 by

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...

, the 27-year-old tested positive for the banned stimulant

methylhexanamine Methylhexanamine (also known as methylhexamine, 1,3-dimethylamylamine, 1,3-DMAA, dimethylamylamine, and DMAA; trade names Forthane and Geranamine) is an indirect sympathomimetic drug invented and developed by Eli Lilly and Company and marketed as ...

, in results that were verified by a WADA-approved laboratory in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. In an email exchange dated September 2014, FIFA promised to take action, but there is no record of a suspension for Abdul-Zahra. The Iranian national team remained in Australia whilst awaiting a response from FIFA and a final decision by the AFC disciplinary committee. 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. 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.

Notes

References

External links

*
AFC Asian Cup on The-AFC.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Afc Asian Cup 2015

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2015 AFC Asian Cup 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 ...

January 2015 sports events in Australia