Football is one of the most popular sports anywhere in the world. It provides ample betting opportunities with matches held on a weekly basis. Aside from the FIFA World Cup, one of the most popular football tournaments is the AFC Asian Cup. Run by the Asian Football Confederation, the Asian Cup is an international tournament for Asian countries including Australia. The Winner of the tournament is crowned Asian Champs and automatically qualifies for a spot in the FIFA World Cup.
The origins of the Asian Cup date back to the 1950’s. In 1954, the Asian Football Confederation came into being and started planning for the first Asian tournament. The first official Asian Cup took place in 1956 and was Hosted by Hong Kong. In total 12 founding members of the association took part in the completion to be crowned Asia’s best football team. To qualify for the cup, each country had to qualify through their zone which included central Asia, eastern Asia, and Western Asia.
Australia Joins the Asian Confederation
At the time, the Asia Cup was a four team tournament consisting of the hosts and three qualifying countries. The Winner of the 1956 cup was South Korea defeating Israel in the final. In the first years of the tournament, the Cup was dominated by just a few teams including Iran and South Korea. Since 1984 though, both Saudi Arabia and Japan has been the most successful. Together the two countries have won 7 of the past 9 finals. In 2007, Australia joined the Asian Confederation and were out of the completion in the quarterfinals.
In 2011 Australia took second place in the Asian Cup, being beaten by Japan in the finals. The most recent tournament took place in 2015 where it was hosted by Australia. Having the home ground advantage, Australia manged to beat out the competition and defeat South Korea in the finals to be crown Asian Champs. The Next cup will take place in 2019 where it will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates. Unlike many other tournaments, the cup is moved up and down the calendar to accommodate the climate of the host country.
Asian Cup Soccer Bets
Soccer is one of the most popular online betting sports. The Asian Cup provides plenty of betting opportunities for both novice and experienced bettors. The most popular bet in the tournament is the outright winner. This involves placing a bet on a specific country to be crowned Asian Champs. Before the tournament has even begun, bettors can place wagers on which teams will qualify for the cup and which teams will make it past the first round.
During the tournament itself, bettors can place bets on specific match ups predicting the winner of an individual qualifying match or round. Greyhound bets can also be placed on which team will make it to the semi-finals as well as the finals. In a single match, there are a number of exotic bets that can be placed including which team will score the first goal and how many goes will be scored in total during the match.