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The Asian Cup had previously been held every 4 years from 1956 onwards, the last cup being held in China in 2004. However, with the Summer Olympic Games and the European Football Championship also held in the same year as the Asian Cup (2004, 2008, 2012 etc.), the AFC decided to change their tradition and hold the tournament in 2007, and every four years henceforth from that date.
This is the first major AFC tournament in which Australia is participating as a member. Australia was the first non-host nation to qualify.
Host selection
The decision to have four host nations for this edition of the Asian Cup was proposed and presented to the executive committee by AFC president Mohammed Bin Hammam. However, he later regretted this decision and called it his "mistake", citing the financial and logistic difficulties in organising an event across four countries.
He said that "It is proving very difficult for have to have four organising committees, four media centres and there are also financial considerations." He also revealed that " definitely it ," if he had the choice.
In June 2005, the Asian Football Confederation warned Thailand that it needed to improve its facilities before 2007, otherwise it would be dropped, possibly being replaced with Singapore. On August 12 of the same year, the AFC confirmed that Thailand would be a co-host of the 2007 Asian Cup. However in October 2006, Thailand was again warned to improve its facilities in 90 days.
The qualification round ran from February 22, 2006 to November 15, 2006. For the first time, the defending champions (Japan) needed to attend the qualification stage. Twenty-four teams attempted to qualify for 2007 AFC Asian Cup. They were divided into 4 teams for each group and determined the remaining last 12 places, as the four co-hosts - Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam - were already granted automatic qualification.
Seeds
For the first time, the seeds are based on the October 2006 FIFA World Rankings instead of the basis of the performance from the previous AFC Asian Cup competition. This was to ensure that the same number of strong teams do not meet in the early stage.
The four seeded teams were announced on December 192006. The seeds comprised Pot 4 in the draw. Pot 1 consists of the teams from all co-hosts.
The Official Match Ball for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup was launched by Nike on May 15 2007, making it the first time ever that a ball had been launched specifically for any football competition in Asia. The Nike Mercurial Veloci AC features four blue stripes with gold trim with each host city's name inscribed, as well as the AFC Asian Cup logo.
Officials
16 referees and 24 assistant referees were officially cleared following a fitness test scheduled on July 2 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. One referee and two assistant referees have also been named from the CAF.
The Asian Cup saw many upsets in the early stages of the tournament. In Group A, Oman held favourites Australia to a surprising draw. Oman took the lead and would have won save for an injury time goal from Tim Cahill. Next, hosts Vietnam shocked Gulf Champions UAE with a 2-0 victory. In the same group, Qatar held Japan to a shock 1-1 draw, which caused Japan coach Ivica Osim to fly into a rage in which he branded his players as 'amateurs' and reduced his interpreter to tears . In Group D, Indonesia continued the undefeated streak of the hosts by defeating Bahrain 2-1. Malaysia ended up as the only host country to drop their match, losing to China 5-1. Thailand recorded just its 2nd win in the Asian Cup finals (their other was in 1972 against Cambodia), and its first ever win in regulation, when they beat Oman 2-0 on July 12. Meanwhile, Australia was upset by a 3-1 defeat against Iraq the following day, leaving them floundering in the tournament despite high expectations.
Matthew Breeze 
Jasim Karim 
Baojie Sun 
Masoud Moradi 
Yuichi Nishimura 
Saad Kameel Al Fadhli 
Talaat Najm 
Abdulrahman Abdou 
Khalil Ibrahim Al Ghamdi 
Eddy Maillet 
Kwon Jong-Chul †
Mushen Basma 
Satop Tongkhan 
Ali Hamad Madhad Saif Albadwawi
Shamsul Maidin after the referee pulled out with injury.
Iraq
Oman
6' (pen)
Vietnam
Uzbekistan
Malaysia
Indonesia
