The 2015 AFC Asian Cup will be the 16th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, an international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is scheduled to be held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The winners of the tournament will earn the right to participate in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, which is to be hosted by Russia.
Australia was chosen as the host on 5 January 2011, after being the sole bidder for the right to host the 2015 tournament. The matches will be played in five different stadia in five cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Newcastle. It will be the first time that Australia hosts the tournament, and it will also be the first time the Asian Cup will be hosted outside the continent of Asia. As hosts, Australia have automatically qualified for the final tournament, while the remaining 15 finalists (with the exception of Japan and South Korea who qualified via their position in the previous Asian Cup) were decided through a qualification process, featuring 44 teams, from February 2013 to March 2014.