The Asian Cup 2027 final

What is known now

The date, the ground and the route are fixed. The final is at King Fahd Sports City Stadium in Riyadh, the largest of the eight venues at 72,000 seats and the same ground that stages the opening match on 7 January. It is the 51st and last match of the tournament.

The two finalists come through the semi-finals on 1 and 2 February. One side arrives from the half of the bracket that starts with matches 37 and 39, the other from the half that starts with matches 40 and 42. Neither is known until the semi-finals finish, three days before the final itself.

What a final is worth here

Eighteen tournaments have been played, but only fourteen of them ended in a final. The first four, from 1956 to 1968, were decided by a round-robin group where the last round happened to settle it. Every edition since 1972 has finished with a single match, which is what Riyadh gets on 5 February.

Nine nations have won the trophy. Japan have four titles, Iran and Saudi Arabia three each, South Korea and Qatar two each, and Kuwait, Iraq, Australia and Israel one apiece. Hosts have taken eight of the eighteen, a rate of 44 per cent, and Saudi Arabia arrive as the first host to stage the tournament already holding three titles. What that record does to the outright market is a separate question, and one the bookmakers price long before the semi-finals.

Saudi Arabia as host

This is the first Asian Cup held in Saudi Arabia. In 18 previous editions the tournament had never been staged there: Qatar have hosted it three times, Iran and the United Arab Emirates twice each, and the rest went to Hong Kong, South Korea, Israel, Thailand, Kuwait, Singapore, Japan, Lebanon, China, Australia and a four-nation edition in Southeast Asia in 2007.

Japan have won this tournament more often than anyone, four times. The history guide has the full record by nation and by host.