Asian Cup

The AFC Asian Cup (Asia) (AFC Asian Cup, founded in 1956) is the premier men’s national-team competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation and is staged every four years. Tournament regulations: 24 national teams take part in the finals, the group stage features six groups of four playing a single round-robin, the top two in each group plus the four best third-placed teams qualify for the knockout stage, and the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final are played as single matches, with extra time and penalties if level in the knockout rounds.  In the group stage, teams are ranked by points, then head-to-head points, head-to-head goal difference and head-to-head goals scored, with head-to-head criteria reapplied to any subset still tied, followed by overall goal difference and overall goals scored, then penalties if only two teams remain level and they played each other in their last group match, then disciplinary points and drawing of lots.