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February 12 – The Asian Cup closed on Saturday night with a crowd of 86,492 in the Lusail Stadium watching Qatar beat Jordan 3-1. The tournament had opened on January 10 with a record 82,490 people in Lusail watching Qatar beat Lebanon.
It has been a victorious month for the Qataris. The team extended their winning run to 14 matches, beating the previous record of Iran’s 13-match winning streak. Qatar equalled it by beating Iran in a tumultuous semi-final.
Across the 51 games and the nine stadia a total of 1,509,496 people attended the finals, smashing the previous attendance record from China in 2004 of 1.04 million.
The tournament used seven stadia that were build for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, achieving an average capacity of 73% – a 13% increase on China in 2004.
The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in China in the summer of 2023 but after the Chinese pulled out the hosting was retendered and awarded to Qatar, but with a date shift to January/February 2024.
It has proved to be a big success for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), building on the first 24-team edition of 2019 in the UAE pretty much across every metric of hosting measurement.
AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has congratulated Qatar on both winning and their hosting of the tournament.
“On behalf of the AFC, I would like to extend our wholehearted congratulations to Qatar on defending their Asian title and showcasing exceptional tenacity, consistency and quality over the last 30 days…I am certain that the performances of both teams will serve to inspire the future generation of players, not only in their respective nations, but also across our great Continent.”
“From the FIFA World Cup venues, the world-class infrastructure, the seamless connectivity, the absorbing atmosphere all across the city of Doha, and unrivalled hospitality from the people of Qatar, the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 was unlike anything we have ever experienced or…
Source link : https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/02/12/asian-cup-breaks-big-stories-creates-new-records-delivers-asias-greatest-ever/
Author : Paul Nicholson
Publish date : 2024-02-12 10:43:05
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