South Asian Business news and information

The most prestigious football tournament in Asia is AFC Asian Cup that has been being held after every four year since 1956. The last tournament was held in 2004 in China. However, the14th edition of Asia Cup is going to be started from July 7, 2007. In order to avoid any further clash with Olympic Games and Euro Football, the tournament authority AFC has taken this initiative.

Moreover, there are some other factors for which the Asian Cup 2007 is going to be different from its previous tournaments. This is the first time that four countries are going to organize the tournament jointly. So, all the host nations Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia have automatically qualified for the tournament. This is also the first example of this kind in the history of Asian Cup football. Australia will take part in this tournament for the first time in the history as they have joined AFC in 2006.

Today I found an article in Reuters describing the facts and figures of the Asian Cup Football 2007. I am quoting some lines from that article:

The four co-hosts, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, qualified automatically for the finals.

The remaining 12 places were decided by a qualifying tournament, played over six rounds.

The successful nations were Australia, Bahrain, China, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.

Anyway, you can see there are many new facts to happen in 14^th Asian Cup. From this point of view, the tournament is going to be something special in its history and I that you will enjoy some of the matches of Asian Cup Football 2007.