Although it is the second oldest continental tournament after
Copa América
The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...
, the
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 ...
didn't practice using mascots until near the end of 20th century when
UEFA European Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...
had begun to practice since 1980. This late catch up was due to different in regions, and different in cultures affected on the decision of several host nations in the continent, and lack of interests. The AFC Asian Cup only began to use mascot for the first time in 2000. The first mascot was ''Nour'', a Sparrow for the
2000 AFC Asian Cup
The 2000 AFC Asian Cup was the 12th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Lebanon between 12 and 29 O ...
in Lebanon. Since then, with the exception of 2007 edition, every Asian Cups all feature mascot for the tournament. It depends on the number the host wants to choose, such as the 2011 edition in Qatar had five mascots, but others except upcoming UAE only had one. The mascot for the Asian Cup is also very diverse, based on rich cultural heritages reflection of the host country.
List of mascots
Total 5 mascots were featured ever since the Asian Cup accepted using mascots since 2000:
See also
*
List of FIFA World Cup official mascots FIFA World Cup official mascots are a series of unique characters for each event. The trend began with the 1966 FIFA World Cup having World Cup Willie, one of the first mascots to be associated with a major sporting competition. The mascot designs r ...
*
List of UEFA European Championship official mascots The UEFA European Football Championship has featured mascots since 1980. The first mascot was Pinocchio, for the UEFA Euro 1980 in Italy. Since then, every tournament has had a mascot except for the UEFA Euro 2008 and UEFA Euro 2012, that both had t ...
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List of Copa América official mascots
Each Copa América since 1987 has its own mascot. ''Gardelito'', the mascot for the 1987 competition, was the first Copa América mascot. The mascot designs show some representing a characteristic feature (costume, flora, fauna, etc.) of the host ...
*
List of Africa Cup of Nations official mascots
The following mascots were used in the Africa Cup of Nations over the years.
List of mascots
See also
* List of FIFA World Cup official mascots
* List of UEFA European Championship official mascots
* List of Copa América official mascots
* Lis ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:AFC Asian Cup Mascot
mascot
A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...
Association football mascots
Lists of mascots