2024 AFC Futsal Asian Cup

2024 AFC Futsal Asian Cup

ฟุตซอลเอเชียนคัพ 2024
Tournament details
Host country	Thailand
Dates	17–28 April
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Iran (13th title)
Runners-up	Thailand
Third place	Uzbekistan
Fourth place	Tajikistan
Tournament statistics
Matches played	35
Goals scored	177 (5.06 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Saeid Ahmadabbasi (8 goals)
Best player(s)	Saeid Ahmadabbasi
Best goalkeeper	Bagher Mohammadi
Fair play award	Thailand
← 2022 2026 →

The 2024 AFC Futsal Asian Cup is the 17th edition of the AFC Futsal Asian Cup, the biennial international futsal championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's national teams of Asia. The tournament was held in Thailand between 17–28 April.^[1]

A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament. Japan, the defending champions, were eliminated in the group stage for the first time. Iran claimed their thirteenth Futsal Asian Cup after winning the final against the host Thailand 4–1. Uzbekistan defeated Tajikistan 3–1 on penalties following a 5–5 draw in the third place play-off.

Semi-finalists including Iran, Tajikistan and Thailand qualified for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup besides Uzbekistan who automatically qualified as host. As Uzbekistan reached the semi-finals, a play-off round was held to determine the last Asian spot at the Futsal World Cup. Afghanistan won the play-off round.

Many accomplishments were achieved at the tournament. Afghanistan made their debut. In the group stage, Afghanistan and Myanmar gained their first points wins for the first time. South Korea made their first group point in 14 years. Afghanistan reached the quarter-finals for the first time. Tajikistan made their first appearance in the semi-finals. Thailand secured their final spot for the first time in 12 years. All 5 teams from Central Asia dominated in the quarter-finals with 3 teams of them reached the semi-finals.

Host selection

India and Thailand expressed interest to host the tournament.^[2][3] Later, Thailand was selected as hosts by the AFC Futsal and Beach Soccer Committee on 5 September 2023.^[4]

Teams

The draw for the qualifiers was held on 22 June 2023.^[5] The host Thailand qualified directly for the final tournament, while the other teams competed in the qualifying stage for the remaining 15 spots. The qualifiers were played between 7 to 13 October 2023.

Qualified teams

Of the 16 teams appearing, 11 teams were returning after appearing in the 2022 edition.

Afghanistan were the only debutant in the competition, while Australia marked their return for the first time in 8 years. China, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar also qualified for the first time in 6 years. Iran, Japan, Thailand and Uzbekistan were the only four teams to qualify for every edition.

Three nations from the previous edition failed to qualify (Chinese Taipei, Indonesia and Lebanon) and other two nations from the previous edition did not enter to qualifiers (Oman and Turkmenistan).

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearances	Last appearance	Previous best performance
Thailand	Hosts	5 September 2023[4]	17th	2022	Runners-up (2008, 2012)
China	Group A winners	13 October 2023	13th	2018	Fourth place (2008, 2010)
Afghanistan	Group B winners	11 October 2023	1st	Debut	None
Saudi Arabia	Group B runners-up	11 October 2023	3rd	2022	Group stage (2016, 2022)
Iran	Group C winners	11 October 2023	17th	2022	Champions (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2016, 2018)
Kyrgyzstan	Group C runners-up	11 October 2023	16th	2018	Fourth place (2006, 2007), Semi-finals (2005)
Vietnam	Group D winners	9 October 2023	7th	2022	Fourth place (2016)
South Korea	Group D runners-up	9 October 2023	15th	2022	Runners-up (1999)
Tajikistan	Group E winners	9 October 2023	12th	2022	Quarter-finals (2007, 2022)
Myanmar	Group E runners-up	9 October 2023	2nd	2018	Group stage (2018)
Kuwait	Group F winners	9 October 2023	13th	2022	Fourth place (2003, 2014)
Bahrain	Group F runners-up	9 October 2023	4th	2022	Quarter-finals (2018)
Uzbekistan	Group G winners	9 October 2023	17th	2022	Runners-up (2001, 2006, 2010, 2016)
Iraq	Group G runners-up	9 October 2023	13th	2022	Fourth place (2018)
Japan	Group H winners	11 October 2023	17th	2022	Champions (2006, 2012, 2014, 2022)
Australia	Group H runners-up	11 October 2023	8th	2016	Fourth place (2012)

Draw

The draw was held on 14 December 2023 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[6][7]

The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams, with seeding based on their performance at the qualification and the final of the previous edition.^[8] Seeding was shown in parentheses except the team who previously did not participate, which were denoted by (–).

The host Thailand automatically seeded to Pot 1 and placed into the first position of Group A.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Thailand (4) (hosts)  Japan (1)  Iran (2)  Uzbekistan (3)	Tajikistan (5)  Kuwait (7)  Vietnam (8)  Saudi Arabia (9)	Iraq (10)  Bahrain (11)  South Korea (15)  Myanmar (16)	Afghanistan (17)  Kyrgyzstan (18)  Australia (20)  China (–)

Venues

The tournament was held at two venues in Bangkok.

Bangkok
Bangkok Arena	Indoor Stadium Huamark
Capacity: 12,000	Capacity: 8,000

Squads

Each team was required to registered a squad with a minimum of 14 players and a maximum of 25 players, at least two of whom had to be goalkeepers (Regulations Article 23).^[1]

Group stage

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 7.3):^[1]

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they met in the last round of the group;
8. Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
9. Drawing of lots.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Thailand (H)	3	3	0	0	10	2	+8	9	Advance to the knockout stage
2	Vietnam	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
3	Myanmar	3	1	1	1	4	7	−3	4
4	China	3	0	0	3	2	7	−5	0

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Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uzbekistan	3	3	0	0	10	4	+6	9	Advance to the knockout stage
2	Iraq	3	2	0	1	12	7	+5	6
3	Saudi Arabia	3	1	0	2	6	10	−4	3
4	Australia	3	0	0	3	6	13	−7	0

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Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tajikistan	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5	Advance to the knockout stage
2	Kyrgyzstan	3	1	2	0	10	9	+1	5
3	Japan	3	1	1	1	8	4	+4	4
4	South Korea	3	0	1	2	5	12	−7	1

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Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	3	3	0	0	12	4	+8	9	Advance to the knockout stage
2	Afghanistan	3	1	1	1	7	8	−1	4
3	Kuwait	3	1	1	1	5	8	−3	4
4	Bahrain	3	0	0	3	6	10	−4	0

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Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary, except for the third place match where penalty shoot-out without extra time is used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 10).^[1]

Bracket

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	24 April – Indoor Stadium Huamark
	Thailand	3
					26 April – Indoor Stadium Huamark
	Iraq	2
					Thailand (p)	3 (6)
	24 April – Indoor Stadium Huamark
					Tajikistan	3 (5)
	Tajikistan (a.e.t.)	2
									28 April – Bangkok Arena
	Afghanistan	1
									Thailand	1
	24 April – Bangkok Arena
									Iran	4
	Uzbekistan	2
					26 April – Bangkok Arena
	Vietnam	1
					Uzbekistan	3 (4)
	24 April – Bangkok Arena
					Iran (p)	3 (5)			Third place play-off
	Iran	6
									28 April – Bangkok Arena
	Kyrgyzstan	1
									Tajikistan	5 (1)
									Uzbekistan (p)	5 (3)

Quarter-finals

Winners qualified for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup. Losers advanced to the play-offs.

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Semi-finals

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Third place play-off

Final

Winners

2024 AFC Futsal Asian Cup
Iran Thirteenth title

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Top scorer	Best player	Best goalkeeper	Fair-play award
Saeid Ahmadabbasi	Saeid Ahmadabbasi	Bagher Mohammadi	Thailand

Play-offs

The competition of the play-offs depended on the performance of Uzbekistan, who qualified automatically for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup as hosts. Uzbekistan advanced to the semi-finals, therefore the play-offs format was held for the remaining four quarter-final losers to play a single elimination play-off. The winner of the play-off 3 qualified the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup.

In the play-offs, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 10).^[1]

Bracket

	Play-off 1 and 2				Play-off 3
	26 April – Indoor Stadium Huamark
	Iraq	3
					28 April – Bangkok Arena
	Afghanistan	5
					Afghanistan	5
	26 April – Bangkok Arena
					Kyrgyzstan	3
	Vietnam	2
	Kyrgyzstan	3

Play-off 1 and 2

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Play-off 3

The winner qualified for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup.

Goalscorers

There have been 177 goals scored in 35 matches, for an average of 5.06 goals per match. Scores in play-off matches for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup were included but not considered for the top goalscorer.

8 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Team rankings

As per statistical convention in futsal, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. Statistics in play-off matches for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup are included, but will not be considered for team rankings. The team rankings will be used for seeding in the qualification draw and the final draw of the next edition.^[10]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
1	Iran	6	5	1	0	25	9	+16	16	Champions
2	Thailand (H)	6	4	1	1	17	11	+6	13	Runners-up
3	Uzbekistan	6	4	2	0	20	13	+7	14	Third place
4	Tajikistan	6	2	4	0	15	12	+3	10	Fourth place
5	Iraq	5	2	0	3	17	15	+2	6	Eliminated in quarter-finals[a]
6	Vietnam	5	1	1	3	6	8	−2	4
7	Afghanistan	6	3	1	2	18	16	+2	10
8	Kyrgyzstan	6	2	2	2	17	22	−5	8
9	Japan	3	1	1	1	8	4	+4	4	Eliminated in group stage[b]
10	Kuwait	3	1	1	1	5	8	−3	4
11	Myanmar	3	1	1	1	4	7	−3	4
12	Saudi Arabia	3	1	0	2	6	10	−4	3
13	South Korea	3	0	1	2	5	12	−7	1
14	Bahrain	3	0	0	3	6	10	−4	0
15	China	3	0	0	3	2	7	−5	0
16	Australia	3	0	0	3	6	13	−7	0

Qualified teams for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup

Semi-finalists including Iran, Tajikistan and Thailand qualified for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup besides Uzbekistan who automatically qualified as host. As Uzbekistan reached the semi-finals, a play-off round was held to determine the last Asian spot at the Futsal World Cup. Afghanistan won a play-off round. Thailand were the only team from ASEAN in the Futsal World Cup among the Central Asian teams.

Tajikistan and Afghanistan made debut. Iran, Thailand and Uzbekistan continued their appearing. Iran have been the most appearances in the Futsal World Cup with eight and the most successful team from AFC with the third place in 2016. Thailand and Uzbekistan have appeared for the sixth and second time, respectively, with their best finish at the round of 16.

Japan and Vietnam who previously qualified in 2021 stopped qualifying in the Futsal World Cup for the sixth and third time, respectively. Japan were eliminated in the group stage for the first time by a loss to Kyrgyzstan and a draw to Tajikistan. Vietnam were eliminated in the play-offs after being defeated by Kyrgyzstan.

The following five teams from AFC which qualified for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup were summarized.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in the FIFA Futsal World Cup
Uzbekistan	23 June 2023[11]	2 (2016, 2021)
Tajikistan	24 April 2024	0 (debut)
Iran	24 April 2024	8 (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2021)
Thailand	24 April 2024	6 (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2021)
Afghanistan	28 April 2024	0 (debut)

¹ Italic indicates host for that year.

Marketing

Official song

The official song of the tournament, "What a Goal" by Ford Trio and Chucky Factory Land, was released on 4 April 2024.^[12]

Mascot

"Ramma Chana" was the mascot of the tournament. "Rama" refers to Phra Ram, main figures of Ramakien which is a Thai version of the ancient Indian epic Ramayana. "Chana" means win in Thai. It was formed by combining many types of animals such as onyx dragon, macchanu, elephants, tigers, cats and kirin, creating a new character similar to the animals of Himavanta.^[13]

Sponsorship

Official Global Partners

• Continental AG^[14]
• Credit Saison^[15]
• Neom^[16]
• Qatar Airways^[17]
• Visit Saudi^[18]
• Yili Group^[19] (Joyday, Cremo Thailand, Ambpoeial Yili, Inikin Yili)

Official Global Supporters

• Kelme^[20]
• Konami (eFootball)^[21]

Broadcasting rights

The broadcasters around the world that acquired the rights to the tournament included:^[22]

References

External links

• AFC Futsal Asian Cup, the-AFC.com
• 2024 AFC Futsal Asian Cup Fixtures & Standings, the-AFC.com