Asian Cup, Asian football (soccer) competition that takes place every four years and is that continent’s premier football tournament. The Asian Cup is governed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and was first held in 1956, with South Korea winning the inaugural title.
The first Asian Cup took place in Hong Kong and was contested by the 12 founding members of the AFC. The event was thereafter held in various Asian countries every four years, with an exception in 2007 when the quadrennial cycle was moved forward one year.
The Asian Cup participants are determined through a series of competitions that winnow the field of AFC members down to 16. Those 16 teams play in a four-group round-robin stage that is followed by a knockout tournament between the eight teams that qualified in the previous stage. Japan has had the most success in the Asian Cup, with four titles. Iran and Saudi Arabia have each captured three championships.
The table provides a list of Asian Cup results.
| year | winner | runner-up |
|---|---|---|
| 1956 | South Korea | Israel |
| 1960 | South Korea | Israel |
| 1964 | Israel | India |
| 1968 | Iran | Burma |
| 1972 | Iran | South Korea |
| 1976 | Iran | Kuwait |
| 1980 | Kuwait | South Korea |
| 1984 | Saudi Arabia | China |
| 1988 | Saudi Arabia | South Korea |
| 1992 | Japan | Saudi Arabia |
| 1996 | Saudi Arabia | United Arab Emirates |
| 2000 | Japan | Saudi Arabia |
| 2004 | Japan | China |
| 2007 | Iraq | Saudi Arabia |
| 2011 | Japan | Australia |
| 2015 | Australia | South Korea |
| 2019 | Qatar | Japan |