Asian Cup Odds

For nearly 70 years the Asian Cup has sat as one of the biggest tournaments for football in Asia. In 2023, Qatar will host the tournament, immediately after hosting the 2022 World Cup. 47 nations are eligible to enter the competition but only 24 of those nations will make the finals. The highest rated teams in the Asia Cup are Japan, Iran and South Korea, meanwhile, the lowest are Indonesia, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

History will be made at the tournament for Tajikistan who qualified for the tournament for the first time, qualifying ahead of Singapore and Myanmar. However, when looking at the betting markets for the tournament, the latest betting odds suggest that Tajikistan will fall at the first hurdle at the tournament in their group with hosts Qatar, China and Lebanon.

On the other side of the coin, we have two nations making their 16th appearance at the tournament in South Korea and Iran, 9 nations have won the Asian Cup with only an additional four nations making it to the final of the tournament.

Betting on Teams to win the Asian Cup

If you're looking to bet on a team to win the Asian Cup, it's important to see how the tournament may work out. For example, when looking at the knockout stages, the nations that win group A, B, C and D will face off against sides that finished third in their group, so when betting on the outright winner, these teams are most likely to make it far. In this case, those teams are hosts Qatar, Australia, Iran and Japan.

Does this put South Korea and Saudi Arabia at a disadvantage as they'll likely face tougher opposition in the first knockout round? Many would argue that the gap in quality between the seedings would say otherwise, particularly with South Korea and Saudi Arabia as two of the top nations in the six teams seeded 1st.

Betting on the Asian Cup Group Stage

When you look at the betting odds for Asian Cup group winners, it looks obvious who will win each group. However, as we saw in 2019, this isn't always the case. In group B, Jordan finished above Australia despite being in pot 4 and being the outsiders to get out the group. Meanwhile, in group E, second seeds and eventual winners Qatar finished above Saudi Arabia and if you bet on all group winners, those two groups would have been what would have let an accumulator bet down.

So what groups may lead to similar issues in 2023? We have identified one groups that may lead to similar issues for looking to place bets, the first is Group C, which could be decided by Iran Vs UAE on January 23rd 2023. However, this year more than ever, there seems to be more of a gap between the top teams than ever before, hosts and previous winners Qatar are the lowest ranked side in pot 1. The second lowest ranked side is Saudi Arabia who since their 1-2 victory over Argentina at the World Cup, they have won just 1 of eleven games. However, they are up against Thailand, Kyrgyzstan and Oman and although their opening game against Oman will likely dictate how the group will go, many will be betting in the favour of Saudi Arabia due to the gap in quality.

Asian Cup Statistics for Betting

Other than competition debutants Tajikistan, there is just one nation at the tournament who have failed to pick up a win in the competition and that is Palestine, since their first tournament in 2015, they have taken part in 6 games, losing 4, drawing two but scoring only once with Jaka Ihbeisheh scoring the only goal in a 1-5 defeat to Jordan.

Iran are the only nation that have made more than one final in the Asian Cup and never lost. However, they made their first three finals between 1968 and 1976 and haven't made a final since, so it's unlikely any Asian Cup odds will favour them.

Despite host nations winning 5 out of the first 7 Asian Cups, only one host has won the tournament in the last 10 attempts, that was Australia back in 2015.

Historically, the last three winners have been eliminated at the Quarter-Finals stage in previous years. However, only Japan (2000 and 2004) have defended their Asian Cup crown, can hosts Qatar do so in 2023/24?

In 2019, Almoez Ali broke the record for most goals scored in a single tournament with 9. From just one tournament, he is joint third in regards to most goals in the competitions history. Just 5 off Ali Daei, could he be the competition's all time top goalscorer by next year?