The Asian Cup, and where to watch it

What happens in Saudi Arabia

The 19th edition of the AFC Asian Cup runs from 7 January to 5 February 2027. Twenty-four teams play 51 matches across eight stadiums in Riyadh, Jeddah and Khobar, opening with the hosts against Palestine at King Fahd Sports City Stadium and closing at the same ground a month later.

The group stage covers 36 of those matches. Six groups of four produce six winners, six runners-up and the four best third-placed teams, which is how 24 become the 16 that reach the round of 16. From there it is straight knockout: eight ties, then quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final. There is no third-place play-off.

Where the matches are played

Five of the eight stadiums are in Riyadh, two in Jeddah and one in Khobar, which keeps almost the whole tournament inside a three-city triangle. The two largest are King Fahd Sports City Stadium in Riyadh, at 72,000, and King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, at 60,000; the smallest on the list, Al Shabab Stadium in Riyadh, holds 13,000. Aramco Stadium in Khobar, at 45,000, is the only venue outside the two big cities.

How the month is shaped

The group stage runs from 7 to 20 January, and every team has played three games by the end of it. The round of 16 follows between 22 and 25 January, the quarter-finals on 28 and 29 January, and the semi-finals on 1 and 2 February. That leaves a gap of three days before the final on 5 February.

Eight of the twenty-four teams here have won the tournament before, which is a third of the field. Saudi Arabia are the first hosts to stage it having won it three times, and Qatar arrive as holders having won the last two.

Who arrives with something to settle

Qatar come in as holders, having won 2019 and 2023 back to back, the first side to do that since Japan in 2000 and 2004. Japan have four titles, more than anyone, and have not added one since 2011. South Korea won the first two tournaments and nothing since 1960, a drought of sixty-seven years that no other former champion comes close to.

Saudi Arabia are hosting for the first time in nineteen editions, and Jordan return as the side that reached the 2023 final at a fifth attempt, having first played the tournament in 2004. Full records for all of them are on the team pages.

Finding a match

Rights are sold country by country, so the answer to "where is this on" depends on where you are. The schedule lists every fixture with its stadium and city, and each match links through to its own page with the viewing options that apply to it. Kick-off times have not been published yet, and no page here shows one until they are.

If you want the background rather than the fixtures, the guides cover how the format works, who has won it and the records that come out of eighteen previous editions.