Asian Cup Football 2019
The 17th Asian Cup Football Championship 2019 will be held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 February 2019 with 24 nations. These are Bahrain, India, Thailand and hosts UAE in Group A, Australia, Jordan, Palestine and Syria in Group B, China, Kyrgystan, Philippines and South Korea Group C, Iran, Iraq, Vietnam and Yemen in Group D, Lebanon, North Korea, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in Group E while Japan, Oman, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in Group F.
So far, Japan won highest four times (1992, 2000, 2004 and 2011, Iran (1970, 1974 and 1978), Saudi Arabia (1984, 1988 and 1996), South Korea (1958 and 1962), Israel (1966), Kuwait (1970) and defending champions Australia in 1915.
Several Asian countries namely Azerbaijan, Israel, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Turkey play in the Union of European Football Associations, while Oceania country Australia are the member of Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
It is hard to anticipate which country will become champions this time, as most of the participants are equally strong. However, Australia, Iran, Japan and South Korea represented Asia in the 2018 World Cup Football.
Ameert Hamzah
Dhaka
