Business Post Contributor
By InsideSport
Ahead of the 18th AFC Asian Cup, which kicks off on Friday, January 12, 2024, in the home of the host and reigning champions, Qatar, InsideSport has collated all of the records that could be broken.
To highlight a few, Qatar’s Hassan Al-Haydos could become only the second player to ever win the AFC Asian Cup as a captain on two separate occasions, Ali Mabkhout (UAE) or Almoez Ali (Qatar) could become the first player to win Top Scorer award in two separate tournaments, while Philippe Trousier (Vietnam’s coach) has a chance of becoming the first coach to ever win two AFC Asian Cups and the first one to do so as a coach of two different nations.
Additionally, Japan could extend its record as a nation with the most gold medals, Iran could extend its record for the most matches won, South Korea could equal or break Iran’s record for the most matches played and they could extend their record for the most medals won, and Tajikistan could become only the 4th nation to win the tournament during its debut appearance.
Check the full list below;
Players
Hassan Al-Haydos (Qatar) could join Ali Parvin (Iran) as the only player to win the AFC Asian Cup twice as a captain – Parvin did so in 1972 and 1976, and Al-Haydos could achieve it again after first winning as Qatar’s captain in 2019
Almoez Ali (Qatar) has a chance of becoming the first player to ever become the Top Scorer of the tournament two times, and also the first one to do so two tournaments in a row – he became the Top Scorer in 2019 after scoring a record-breaking 9 goals
Ali Mabkhout (UAE) has a chance of becoming the first player to win the Top Scorer award on two separate occasions – he first did so in 2015 when he scored 5 goals
Almoez Ali (Qatar) has a chance of becoming the first player to win the Best Player award on two separate occasions and the first one to do so two tournaments in a row – he got the award in 2019
Almoez Ali (Qatar) has a chance of becoming the first player to win the Most Valuable Player award on two separate occasions and the first one to do so in two tournaments in a row – he got the award in 2019
Philippe Trousier (Vietnam’s coach) has a chance of becoming the first coach to ever win two AFC Asian Cups and the first one to do so as a coach of two different nations – he first won as a coach of Japan in 2000
Almoez Ali (Qatar), Ali Mabkhout (UAE), and Sardar Azmoun (Iran) all have a chance to climb up in the rankings of the most successful goal scorers in the AFC Asian Cups history – Ali and Mabkhout both scored 9 goals, tying for 3rd place overall with Naohiro Takahara (Japan), and Azmoun scored 6 goals, placing 12th
Japan
Japan could extend its record as a nation with the most gold medals if they win, which would make it their 5th gold medal
Japan could become the 5th defending runner-up that wins the tournament
Qatar
Qatar could become the 7th host that wins during its hosting year – Qatar would also be the first one to do so on their second try (they were the host also in 1988 but they finished in the group stages)
Qatar could join South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Japan as a winning defending champion
On the other hand, Qatar could become the first defending champion to not make it into the quarter-finals
Qatar could join South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Japan as the only nation to win the AFC Asian Cup two tournaments in a row
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia could tie Japan as the nation with the most gold medals (currently they have three, if they win, it would be their 4th)
Saudi Arabia could tie South Korea as the nation with the most silver medals if they end up second (currently they have 3 silver medals, if they end up second, it would be their 4th)
Iran
Iran could extend its record as the nation with the most matches played – they have played 68 matches at the AFC Asian Cup thus far
Iran could extend its record as the nation with the most matches won – thus far, they have won 41 times
Iran could extend its record as the nation with the most overall points gained during the AFC Asian Cup matches (points counted for wins, losses & draws) – they have gained 142 points, which is 20 more than the nation in second place, South Korea
Iran could extend its record as the nation with the most matches ending up in a draw – thus far, they have ended up in a draw 19 times
Iran could tie Japan as the nation with the most gold medals (currently they have three, if they win, it would be their 4th)
Iran could extend its record as the nation with the most bronze medals (currently they have 5, if they win, it would be their 6th)
Iran has a chance to extend their record as the nation with the most hat-tricks – they have scored 6 hat-tricks thus far
South Korea
South Korea could equal or break Iran’s record for the most matches played at the AFC Asian Cup – they are currently in second place with 67 matches played, only one match behind Iran
South Korea could extend its record as the nation with the most overall medals if they place 1st, 2nd or 3rd – they have won 10 medals in total thus far
South Korea could extend its record as the nation with the most silver medals if they end up second, which would make it their 5th silver medal
South Korea could tie Iran as the nation with the most bronze medals (currently they have four, if they win, it would be their 5th)
China
China could extend its record as the nation with the most overall matches lost – they have lost 20 times
Tajikistan
Tajikistan could join South Korea, Iran and Saudi Arabia as the only nation to win on its debut appearance.
