How the calendar is laid out
The tournament covers thirty days, from 7 January to 5 February 2027, but football is played on twenty-three of them. The group stage takes the first fortnight without a pause: fourteen straight days from 7 to 20 January. It opens with a single match, the hosts against Palestine, and reaches four matches on 18 January and again on 20 January, when two groups finish on the same day.
The knockout rounds are spread much thinner. Nothing at all is played on 21 January. Then it is two round-of-16 ties a day from 22 to 25 January, two quarter-finals on each of 28 and 29 January, and a single semi-final on each of 1 and 2 February. The final stands alone on 5 February, three days after the second semi-final.
Kick-off times
No kick-off time has been published for any of the fifty-one matches yet. Every fixture below carries its date, stadium and city, and will carry its time as soon as the AFC confirms one. Saudi Arabia stays on UTC+3 all year and does not move its clocks, so whatever conversion you work out for the opening match will still hold for the final.
Saudi Arabia 
Palestine
Oman 
Kuwait
Bahrain 
North Korea
Uzbekistan 
Jordan
Syria 
Kyrgyzstan
Iran 
China
Australia 
Singapore
Tajikistan 
Iraq
South Korea 
Yemen
United Arab Emirates 
Vietnam
Qatar 
Thailand
Japan 
Indonesia