Doha, 9 January 2024 - The State of Qatar is looking forward to continuing to impress the sports world by hosting the 18th edition of the Asian Cup, AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, after the incredible success witnessed by the entire world in organizing and hosting the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Twenty-four teams will participate in the tournament after the expansion of the number of teams from 16 to 24 teams, which began in the 2019 edition, won by the Qatari team.
The Asian Football Confederation announced that the tournament will be held in the State of Qatar after China's withdrawal.
The Asian Cup has always seen fierce competition between the continents' teams, and it is difficult to predict the outcome of these matches. It is not just a competition between teams; it is also a competition between players to score the most goals to help lead their national team to win the title.
The Qatari striker Almoez Ali comes as the top goalscoring player in a single edition of the tournament after successfully leading the team to the title in 2019, in addition to scoring nine goals, breaking the record set by the Iranian player Ali Daei (8 goals) in a single tournament, and winning the award for the best player in the tournament.
The 27-year-old striker, who was the top scorer of the previous edition with nine goals, is looking to break the previous record of Ali Daei, the historic goal scorer of the finals with 14 goals.
The opportunity seems favorable for Almoez Ali to score goals and reach the number 15 in at least two editions of the continental tournament, especially as the 14 goals scored by Daei were over three editions of the continental tournament (1996, 2000 and 2004).
Almoez Ali is the first Arab player to top the group stage goal scorers , as well as the first Arab player to be top scorer in the history of the tournament.
He became the fifth player in the history of the Asian Cup to score a super-hat-trick (four goals) in the group stage, after Iranian player Behtash Fariba was the first to accomplish this achievement in the 1980 edition after his country's team defeated Bangladesh by seven goals to null. Later, his compatriot Ali Daei scored a super-hat-trick against South Korea in the quarterfinals of the 1996 edition.
Almoez Ali continues his good performance with the Qatari national team after scoring 42 goals in 82 international matches, as well as his success in scoring goals in three different continental tournaments, namely the 2019 Copa America in Brazil, and the 2021 Gold Cup in the United States of America, in which he was crowned top scorer with 4 goals, as well as the 2019 Asian Cup.
Iranian Ali Daei tops the list of players who have scored the most goals in the Asian Cup with 14 goals scored in three different versions, which are: 8 goals in 1996 and 3 goals in 2000 and 3 goals in 2004.
South Korean Lee Dong-gook is the second highest goal scorer in the history of the Asian Cup with 10 goals. He scored six goals in the 2000 edition of the tournament and four goals in the 2004 edition in China.
Qatari national team striker Almoez Ali comes in third place with 9 goals, equal to Japanese Takahara with the same score. Takahara shared the title of top scorer in the 2007 continental tournament with Iraqi Younis Mahmoud, with 4 goals for each of them.
Almoez Ali opened his scoring in the 2019 Asian Cup against Lebanon, then scored four goals against North Korea, and two goals against Saudi Arabia in the group stage. In the knockout rounds he did not score against both Iraq and South Korea before returning to score in the semi-final against the Emirates as well as Japan in the final, reaching nine goals.
Next in the ranking of the historical scorers of the Asian Cup is former Kuwaiti striker Jassim Al-Huwaidi, with 8 goals. He scored 6 goals in the 1996 edition, helping his country securing fourth place in the tournament, then scored two goals in the 2000 edition.
The Iraqi player Younis Mahmoud is also one of the best players of the Iraq national team throughout history after leading his country to the 2007 title, where he scored 8 goals in 4 tournaments, to equal the score of Jassim Al-Huwaidi.
Then comes Kuwaiti Faisal Al-Dakhil 7 goals, Iranian Behtash Fariba 7 goals, his compatriot Hossein Kalani 7 goals, and then South Korean Choi Soon-ho 7 goals.
The Asian Cup featured four players who scored a super Hat-trick before Almoez Ali: the Iranians Behtash Fariba and Ali Daei, the Bahraini Ismail Abdul Latif, and the Jordanian Hamza Al-Dardour.
The AFC Asian Cup 2023 will feature six groups. The first group: Qatar, China, Tajikistan and Lebanon. The second group: Australia, Uzbekistan, Syria and India.
The third group: Iran, the UAE, Hong Kong, and Palestine. The fourth group: Japan, Indonesia, Iraq, and Vietnam. The fifth group: South Korea, Malaysia, Jordan, and Bahrain. The sixth group: Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, and Oman.
The tournament will be held at the World Cup stadiums of Al Janoub, Education City, Al Bayt, Al Thumama, Khalifa International Stadium, and Ahmed bin Ali, in addition to the Jassim bin Hamad stadium at Al Sadd Club and Abdullah bin Khalifa stadium at Al Duhail Club.
The first and runner-up from each group will qualify for the next round, in addition to the best 4 teams that achieved third place in the groups.
