With the competition expanding in 2019 who will be the benefactors from such an upgrade.

For me:
India
Indonesia
North Korea
Thailand
Singapore

Thailand are a mixed bag. But they won't have Suree Sukha by then, so I don't even care :(
The next Asian cup will have no Endo, no Quintana, No Sukha, no Chetri, no Budi, no Bambang...


What's the point :(

With a new generation comes new heroes.

Keen to see India's response. They, like the Chines have invested millions in football.

Edited by TheSelectFew: 22/1/2015 12:55:42 PM

Good to have a look at last years AFC U-19 Tournament for a bit of crystal-balling but not always easy. I expect a strong showing from Qatar and China given that most of their U-20 sides are European based.

Also Uzbekistan will be one to watch out for, in particular Zabikhillo Urinboev and Bobur Davlatov at Rubin Kazan.

Maybe even no Timmy too. IMO by the time the next Asian Cup comes around Omar Abdulrahman will be one of the best players in Asia.

Yeah, in the two month long IPL, which, despite the big names and the big crowds, will do little for their future development.

Gerontophilia is strong in this one.

The main benefactor , as usual, will be the AFC who will be able to guarantee that China are involved every time. Bonus points for getting India, Thailand or Indonesia in.

Thats an added tournament on top of the I league. It would be great having those types rubbing shoulders with the best of india.

Remember a huge achievement is making the asian cup.

You're guranteed they will all most likely make it.

south-east nations will benefit since they pretty much finished 3rd in most of the qualifying group, plus it will give countries such malaysia, hong kong, singapore, thailand a chance to play in the tournament.

india vietnam and thailand will be tough to keep out

china could be a top 4 nation by then

Realistically if you look at the west Asian confederacy it was only Syria, Yemen & Lebanon who didnt qualiy.


Even if all the west asian teams qualified (which is doubtful) that leaves 5 spots for others

They keep delaying the host decision.

I still hope it will be Thailand. However this is doubtful IMO because they can say Australia is ASEAN , and Qatar has the wc in 2022. It wouldnt be that fun to play a 2023 tournament in west Asia.

UAE I fear will win it.


Edited by scott21: 22/1/2015 11:45:29 PM

On thing I do find incredibly strange for the Asian Cup 2015 is not that they took 2 entrants from the winner of the AFC Challenge Cups 2012 & 4 (Nrth Korea and Palestine) but how did North Korea get to enter this tournament.
They played in the 2010 World Cup. Philippines came close twice and Turkmenistan lost to North Korea in the final.

UAE? Really? Been there and its a great country. I would be up for it.

Qatar will get it as preperation.

Qatar had the last tournament.
UAE would be a good choice in West Asia. When I say I fear, I mean we would have to wait longer until its back closer to Australia. If Australia wins now could you imagine the invasion of Thailand.

The more Thai Curry the better.

Australia will - Just host 2019 Asian Cup here again, nobody would mind!

I'd say he already is.

I am definitely going, I had high hopes for the cup as a spectator and it has wildly exceeded them all. Excited for the next one already.

I wonder why Indonesia don't put their hands up for it, they have a bunch of big, quality stadia, some of which are just a few years old.

I'm sure India does too, and it sure beats having to qualify for them.

It's tough to put him up there atm with players who play for some of the best clubs in Europe (e.g. Kagawa and Honda) and players who are proven to always be sensational for the countries (E.g Cahill). I mean that I think he will be playing for a bigger club, or at least I hope he doesn't stay in Asia.

I think the UAE bid is widely regarded as the best and most likely to win. I think Australia is backing the UAE bid aswell. With Iran as some chance to host, the Thai and Saudi bids don't have a lot of support.
Someone mentioned Yemen qualifying earlier, there is absolutely no chance of this happening. The biggest winners in expanding to 24 teams, will be the ASEAN nations. Thailand and Vietnam can probably book their places. Indonesia, Malaysia and even the Philippines and Myanmar, will all go in fairly confident. The Central Asian Countries, like Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan will also fancy their chances.
The South Asian countries are still struggling to produce any decent players and/or results. I don't think India is strong enough to qualify (they have to start in the play-offs because their FIFA ranking is so low). The Maldives are the only team I think are a chance and that's mainly because of the Home Ground advantage of playing in the middle of the nowhere, often during heavy monsoons.

Every country in the middle east hates saudi Arabia.

ISIS to have their own team in 2019. AFC....oh thats right they hate football don't they.#-o

- The Saudis will not get it. The rest of West Asia hate them and the Visa issues and banning of woman will put the AFC off it full stop. Fans would not travel full stop.

- Iran would be an awesome cup because of the huge football culture there but there are so many logistical issues. The place is relatively safe as long as you are not near the Afghan or Pakistan borders but it's things like the huge difficulty in getting money as International credit and bank cards cannot be used in Iran. Also the laws regarding contact between unmarried men and woman, the illegality of homosexuality and alcohol restrictions make it a poor host for such a tournament.

UAE - My tip to host 2019. Will be able to rally up votes and has the airports, hotels and stadiums to host a tournament easily. The place lacks football culture and is only slightly progressive on things like alcohol or women but the AFC won't give a fuck. Cheap flights would be a positive though.

Thailand - Would be the best by far but has co hosted recently and the stadiums need a serious upgrade. Would be cheap flights for most of Asia and Australia in particular with the prospect for games outside of Bangkok for once (Australia in Phuket or Chiang Mai would be something to see). Can't over state the positives; cheap drinks, beautiful country, thousands of bars and affordable accom, extremely hospitable to tourists, love football and easy to get around. #scenes

this x200000 the middle east have there problems but can agree on one thing and thats their hatred of the saudis

You forgot to add cheap sex and lady boys :lol:

Just let Australia re-host 2019.