Next Asian Cup to host a 24-team tournament

'We must market our product and generate income to sustain football across the continent. I am sure that the changes that happen will have big impact in Asian football and will benefit our member association'.

With these words the president of the Asian Football Confederation Mr. Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa concluded his announcement of the decision that the number of teams would be increased by 8, from the current 16 to 24.

Although the Asian Cup is the biggest continental competition in Asian football, it is not when it comes to media coverage and fan support, since ASEAN countries were out of the competition.

Including countries such as Indonesia, Philippines or Vietnam would increase significantly the number of new fans by a couple of billion people.