Days before mapping out the path towards the title of the new edition of the Asian Cup 2023 through the draw that will be held in Doha on May 11, the question continues to be whether the trophy will be won by certain teams which formed an axis known as the major traditional powers in the yellow continent that dominated the competition by claiming the cup the highest number of times while losing it only three times out of seventeen editions since its inception in 1956.
Talking about maintaining the title concerns teams that have always played pioneering roles in competing for a championship that bears a great historical legacy at the continental level. They are topped by the South Korean team, the first champion of the two initial editions, then the Iranian team, which dominated the championship on three occasions in a row, to be the only one with this great honor, along with the Saudi team, which tightened its grip on the cup for more than a decade from 1984 to 1996, claiming the title in three of the four tournaments held during that period. The fourth title in the said period was won by the Japanese team, which began to feel the path to glory before its return intensified, imposing itself as a difficult number to win three cups to be added to the first title, bringing the total to four cups.
The list of top teams was not limited to the abovementioned four teams, as others imposed themselves among the elite such as the Australian team, which its first participation was after joining the Asian continent in the 2007 edition. With great glory in the history of the World Cup by attending two German versions in 1974 and 2006, the Australian team played in the Asian Cup final in Qatar 2011, and it was crowned champion in the tournament hosted by Australia in 2015.
The latest to join the list of traditional powers was the Qatari national team, the holder of the last title in the UAE in 2019. With a major project that has become a model to be followed in the making of the continent’s champion team and through its great presence in other tournaments such as the Copa America, the Gold Cup, and the European qualifiers for the World Cup as part of its preparations for the first Arab World Cup in the history of the World Cup, the Qatari national team will enter the current tournament as an extraordinary candidate to retain the title it won in the last edition, relying on the great development witnessed in recent years, in addition to being playing home and receiving great support from its fans who demonstrated their great support for national team during the 2022 World Cup.
As history alone is not enough to guarantee continuity for teams, certain great teams found themselves outside the ranking of the major powers. An example of this is the Kuwaiti national team, the first Arab team to win the Asian Cup in the 1980 edition before it suffered a lot in recent years. Another is the Iraqi national team, the winner of the continental cup in 2007 before disappearing in the following versions. The permanent presence in the finals either by winning the title, or becoming the runner-up, or booking a place in the golden square at the latest is the only thing that keeps to big teams their prestige and ensure they become traditional powers.
Source: Qatar News Agency