The most surprising Asian Cup in history.

Aside from the 2023 Asian Cup, there was only one other tournament where the aforementioned "big five" of Asian football did not finish in the top two: in 1964, when the Asian Cup was held in Israel. That year, host nation Israel won the title, while India finished second.

Qatar (in red) advanced to the final.

However, the 1964 Asian Cup only had four participating teams (the other two being South Korea and Hong Kong), playing in a single round-robin format, with points awarded for ranking. Therefore, there was no final match in 1964. Moreover, Israel had been out of Asian football for so long that people could hardly imagine Israel ever being an Asian team.

Before and after that, there has never been a tournament where the five giants of Asian football – Japan, South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Australia – finished outside the top two positions in the Asian Cup. Furthermore, since the Asian Championship introduced a final (starting in 1972 in Thailand), the final has never lacked the presence of these "five powerhouses".

For many years, the finals were all-team affairs. For example, at the 1972 Asian Cup, Iran beat South Korea 2-1 in the final. Then in 1988, Saudi Arabia beat South Korea on penalties in the final.

Four years later, at the 1992 Asian Cup, Japan beat Saudi Arabia 1-0. In 2000, Japan again beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the final. At the 2011 Asian Cup, Japan beat Australia 1-0 in the final.

The most recent instance of an Asian Championship final being an all-big five affair was the 2015 Asian Cup final, where Australia beat South Korea 2-1 to claim the title.

Yet, at the 2023 Asian Cup, none of the five major Asian football powerhouses will be present in the final on February 10th.

Saudi Arabia, the second most successful team in Asia (3-time champions), was eliminated by South Korea (2-time champions) in the round of 16. South Korea then went on to eliminate the 2015 defending champions Australia (1-time champions) in the quarter-finals. However, in the semi-finals, South Korea was defeated by Jordan.

On the other side of the bracket, one of Asia's two most successful teams, Iran (3-time champions), defeated the continent's most traditional team, Japan (4-time champions), in the quarterfinals. However, Iran was then defeated by host nation Qatar in the semifinals.

Jordan reaching the final was considered a surprise.

The final will be a clash between Qatar (one-time champion) and Jordan (never-winning). These two teams were previously not considered on par with the Asian "big five."

In particular, for Jordan, this is their first time in the Asian Cup final. If Jordan beats Qatar on February 10th, they will win the tournament for the first time. Furthermore, if Jordan defeats Qatar, they will become the 10th team to win the Asian Cup (after South Korea, Israel, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Iraq, Australia, and Qatar).

And regardless of the outcome in the final, the 2023 Asian Cup will be the most surprising tournament in history. The most expensive teams, the highest-rated teams before the tournament (both Japan), the teams with the most players playing in Europe (Australia), and the teams with the most expensive star players (South Korea)... have all been eliminated. Reaching the final are two teams that were little mentioned before the tournament began: Jordan and Qatar.

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