Australian success on and off the field during the AFC Asian Cup

Not only was Australia successful on the field during the AFC Asian Cup, beating South Korea 2-1 in the final, but the event was also a success for the tournament organisers.

600,000 fans attended the tournament’s 32 games in 23 days in five cities, well exceeding the Organising Committee’s target of 500,000.

Away from the stadia, the AFC Asian Cup games were the most watched ever with more than 1.6 billion people tuning in to watch the tournament’s 16 teams compete.

The largest football tournament ever staged in Australia was praised by Asian Football Confederation (AF) President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa who stated "Australia has won the competition for the very first time in their history, and to do this in front of the home crowd is truly special.

“Australia’s win and their standard of performance throughout the competition is a yardstick that all Asian nations should look to follow, and this also goes for their organisation of the whole event”

 “The tournament itself has been tremendous. Filled with quality and excitement, it was a fantastic festival of football that the whole of Asia can be proud of”

 "(I) congratulate Australia for hosting such a memorable AFC Asian Cup. The whole world was presented with a competition that has been remarkable in spirit and in passion, and we have Australia to thank for that.”

2015 AFC Asian Cup Organising Committee Chief Executive Michael Brown thanked all match goers for their support of the tournament, stating “over our journey many people doubted the popularity of the Asian Cup and questioned whether it would be a success but I always believed that football fans knew it would be a great event.”

The tournament featured eight sell-out games – three of those not involving the Socceroos – and almost 400,000 people attended non-Socceroos games.

Brown added “the legacies of this tournament will be felt well into the future at football stadiums, training pitches, in classrooms as well as boardrooms, and at government level.

“It has brought Asia to Australia, and taken Asian football to the world.”

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