Asian Football Confederation

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football in Asia and Australia. It has 47 member countries, mostly located in the Asia and Australia continent, but excludes the transcontinental countries - Azerbaijian, Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey - both of which are in the UEFA. Three other states that are located along the western fringe of Asia - Cyprus, Armenia and Israel - are also UEFA members. Guam, part of the territory of the United States, is also part of the AFC. Hong Kong and Macau, although they are special administrative regions (SAR), they are also part of the AFC.

The AFC Asian Cups are as follows:
 * 1984: Singapore
 * 2007: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam
 * 2011: Qatar
 * 2015: Australia
 * 2019: United Arab Emirates

2007 AFC Asian Cup
Before 2007 and every four years, Asia often held its continental tournament until China in 2004. With the Summer Olympic Games and European Championship also held at the same year as Asian Cup, the AFC changed the tradition. Beginning from 2007, Asia will hold its continental tournament a year earlier, and every four years from this date. The bids are Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, and are known to be co-hosting since 2005.

In June 2005, the AFC warned Thailand that it needed to improve its facilities before 2007, otherwise it would be dropped, possibly being replaced with Singapore. On 12 August of the same year, the AFC confirmed that Thailand would be a co-host of the 2007 Asian Cup. However, in October 2006, Thailand was again wanted to improve the facilities for 90 days.

The stadiums are:
 * Kuala Lumpur (Bukit Jalil National Stadium)
 * Shah Alam (Shah Alam Stadium)

The qualification round ran from 22 February 2006 to 15 November 2006. For the first time, the defending champions (in this tournament, Japan) did not get an automatic qualification and had to play in the qualification. Twenty-four nations were split into six four-team groups for 12 remaining spots in the finals. The four co-hosts – Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam – were granted automatic qualification.

Pakistan is added back into the final qualifying round after Sri Lanka withdrew at the last minute. Lebanon officially withdrew from the competition on 1 August 2006 after having played only one match, due to conflicts with Israel. The game was only played between Lebanon and Kuwait, which is only 1 vs. 1 and the results have been declared null and void, and do not count towards the group rankings. The following fixtures were cancelled:


 * against Bahrain, 16 August 2006
 * against Australia, 31 August 2006
 * against Bahrain, 6 September 2006
 * against Kuwait, 11 October 2006
 * against Australia, 15 November 2006

2011 AFC Asian Cup
Qatar, India and Iran are interested in the bidding of AFC Asian Cup, but Australia is considering making the late bid after the admission in 2006. Qatar officially submitted their bid on 19 June 2006, while India withdrew the interest and Iran failing to submit proper documentation for their bid on the time. Qatar was announced as a host nation on 29 July 2007.