2015 AFC Asian Cup
Team Method of qualification Date of qualification Finals appearance Last appearance Previous best performance
Australia Hosts 5 January 2011 3rd 2011 Runners-up ( 2011 )
Japan 2011 AFC Asian Cup winners 25 January 2011 8th 2011 Winners ( 1992 , 2000 , 2004 , 2011 )
South Korea 2011 AFC Asian Cup 3rd place 28 January 2011 13th 2011 Winners ( 1956 , 1960 )
North Korea 2012 AFC Challenge Cup winners 19 March 2012 4th 2011 Fourth place ( 1980 )
Bahrain Group D winners 15 November 2013 5th 2011 Fourth place ( 2004 )
United Arab Emirates Group E winners 15 November 2013 9th 2011 Runners-up ( 1996 )
Saudi Arabia Group C winners 15 November 2013 9th 2011 Winners ( 1984 , 1988 , 1996 )
Oman Group A winners 19 November 2013 3rd 2007 Group Stage ( 2004 , 2007 )
Uzbekistan Group E runners-up 19 November 2013 6th 2011 Fourth place ( 2011 )
Qatar Group D runners-up 19 November 2013 9th 2011 Quarter-finals ( 2000 , 2011 )
Iran Group B winners 19 November 2013 13th 2011 Winners ( 1968 , 1972 , 1976 )
Kuwait Group B runners-up 19 November 2013 10th 2011 Winners ( 1980 )
Jordan Group A runners-up 4 February 2014 3rd 2011 Quarter-finals ( 2004 , 2011 )
Iraq Group C runners-up 5 March 2014 8th 2011 Winners ( 2007 )
China PR Best third-placed team 5 March 2014 11th 2011 Runners-up ( 1984 , 2004 )
Palestine 2014 AFC Challenge Cup winners 30 May 2014 1st N/A N/A
Teams -- Qualification
Out of the sixteen teams that qualified , fourteen had participated in the 2011 tournament . Oman qualified for the first time since 2007 . Palestine , winners of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup , were the only team making their first appearance in the tournament . India and Syria are the only two teams from the 2011 tournament who failed to qualify for the subsequent edition . Excluding hosts Australia , none of the other 11 members of the ASEAN Football Federation qualified , nor did any of the South Asian national teams . Qualified for Asian Cup Failed to qualify Did not enter Not an AFC member
The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The tournament was won by Australia after defeating South Korea 2-1 in extra time in the final, thereby earning the right to participate in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, which was hosted by Russia. The win was Australia's first Asian title since their move from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) in 2006. It was also the first time a men's team has become champions of two confederations, following Australia's four OFC Nations Cup titles: 1980, 1996, 2000 and 2004; right after the Australian women's team won the 2010 AFC Women's Asian Cup. Australia was chosen as the host on 5 January 2011, after being the sole bidder for the right to host the 2015 tournament. The matches were played in five different stadiums across five cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Newcastle. It was the first time that Australia had hosted the tournament, and it was also the first time the Asian Cup had been held outside the continent of Asia. As hosts, Australia automatically qualified for the final tournament, while the remaining 15 finalists (with the exception of Japan and South Korea who qualified via their top three position in the previous Asian Cup) were decided through a qualification process, featuring 44 teams, from February 2013 to March 2014. The final tournament was Played in two stages: the group stage and the knockout stage. In the group stage each team played three games in a group of four, with the winners and runners-up from each group advancing to the knockout stage. In the knockout stage the eight teams competed in single-elimination matches, beginning with the quarter-finals and ending with the final match of the tournament.