2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
The #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 Mike Conway led the opening hour of the 8 Hours of Bahrain, benefiting from an incident between the two front-row cars of Bruno Senna and Charlie Robertson. Senna in the pole-sitting #1 Rebellion Racing R13 and Robertson in the 2nd placed #5 Ginetta G60-LT-P1 were spun around following contact between the pair, which allowed Conway to easily slip through the chaos, and swiftly take the lead of the race.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
During the incident, Robertson appeared to lose the rear of the #5 Team LNT Ginetta as the pack came into the Turn 2 left-hand kink, running into Senna. As both cars collided, the #5 bore most of the brunt of the impact, while Sebastien Buemi in the #8 Toyota was also caught up in the chaos, losing lost seven positions in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
The incident scattered the LMP1 field, and shuffled the order of the race, with the LMP2 class leader, the #22 United Autosports Oreca 07, with Paul di Resta in second overall, as Conway sped away in the lead of the race. Second in the LMP1 class was Mike Simpson in the #6 Ginetta, who was fifth overall, while Buemi and Senna were left further behind, with Robertson losing 2 laps owing to repairs to the Ginetta.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
The result of the carnage at Turn 1 meant that for the first half hour of the race, the LMP2 cars ran ahead of all P1s, bar the lead Toyota. In LMP2, di Resta made the best of his pole position, leading through the opening round of pit stops from Job van Uitert in G-Drive Racing's Aurus 01. Nicolas Lapierre was third for a while for Cool Racing, but the eventually fell back during towards the end of the opening stint as Andre Negrao, Kenta Yamashita and Anthony Davidson surged past in the #35, #33, and #37 Orecas.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
In GTE Pro, Alessandro Pier Guidi led the first stint in GTE-Pro after a first-corner shuffle led to pole man Gianmaria Bruni dropping four positions in his #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19. Bruni was knocked out wide when Pier Guidi locked up slightly into Turn 1 and dropped down the order, as Kevin Estre, Marco Sørensen, and Miguel Molina overtook him.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
By the end of hour one, Pier Guidi had built up a three-second gap to Estre while Bruni had charged back up to third, having overtaken Molina, before later gaining an additional place, when Sørensen brought the No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE in for an early regular pit stop. Team Project 1 controlled the opening hour of the race in GTE-Am, with a 1–2, as Ben Keating in the #57 converted his pole position into a massive 15-second lead ahead of Egidio Perfetti in the #56. Third in class behind the two Porsches was the #98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
In the third hour of the race, Rebellion Racing lost its second place in the third hour, following a suspected driveline problem, which promoted Toyota into a commanding one-two position, which they would hold for the remainder for the race. At the time when the #1 was forced to pit, the driver at the time, Gustavo Menezes had held a 50-second gap over Brendon Hartley in the #8. While Hartley ascended into 2nd place, the Rebellion lost 3 laps, falling outside the top 10 in the process.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
The #6 Ginetta also benefited from the suspected issue for the Rebellion, jumping into 3rd place, albeit being 1 lap down on the leading #7 Toyota, with Chris Dyson having spun early on during his first stint in the car. The sister #5 Team LNT car, which had been involved in a collision earlier with the #1 Rebellion had recovered, being ahead of all of the LMP2 cars, save for the leading car in the secondary prototype class, the #22 United Autosports.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
In the GTE-Pro category, AF Corse's Alessandro Pier Guidi, in the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, overtook the #92 Porsche 911 RSR of Michael Christensen and the Aston Martin Vantage GTE of Nicki Thiim in the space of two laps, momentarily after the Rebellion incident. The #95 Aston Martin of Thiim and Sørensen had been the leader for much of the race, after an early first stop which had elevated it ahead of the rest of the field, but Thiim dropped to third in the second half of the third hour, when Christensen managed to overtake him. In GTE-Am, Gulf Racing took the lead after Andrew Watson overtook Paul Dalla Lana in the factory GTE-Am Aston Martin Vantage AMR GTE.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
At the end of the 4th hour, the #7 Toyota of José María López, who had taken over from Kamui Kobayashi, held an enormous gap over of over 1 minute against the second-placed sister #8 Toyota of Kazuki Nakajima, while Team LNT sat third with the #5 Ginetta G60-LT-P1 AER of Ben Hanley, while Gustavo Menezes had brought the #1 Rebellion R13 back to overall, having lost three laps earlier, with a suspected driveline problem. In LMP2, the #22 United Autosports built up a one-minute lead in LMP2, in the hands of Felipe Albuquerque ahead of the guest G-Drive Racing entry.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
In GTE-Pro, Aston Martin Racing found itself at the head of the class, when the team elected not to stop the #97 Vantage GTE during a fourth-hour Full Course Yellow. The #92 Porsche 911 RSR of Kevin Estre, which had been second to the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo prior to the FCY, suffered a setback when it suffered a damper failure, and had to been pushed into the garage, losing a handful of laps, and rejoining 27th outright.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
The sister car of the #92 also saw itself struck with trouble, as the #91 Porsche, then piloted by Gianmaria Bruni limped to the pits with a right-front problem and also rapidly slid down the order. This gifted Alessandro Pier Guidi the GTE-Pro lead in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo; however, he made a stop at the end of hour four, giving AMR a 1–2, with #97 ahead of the #95. In GTE-Am, Team Project 1's #57 Porsche 911 RSR led, following Larry ten Voorde's pass on the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche of Michael Wainwright.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
Following the end of the fifth hour, the LMP1 class suffered its first casualty, with the #5 Ginetta being struck down due to a mechanical issue, grinding to a halt on the track. Its sister car, the #6 would pull into the garage at the penultimate hour, resulting in neither Ginetta making it to the end of the race.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
By the end of the race, following the end of the 8th Hour, the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 Hybrid, driven across the line by José María López, beat the sister #8 car to the finish by one lap, leading a 1–2 finish for the Japanese manufacturer.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
At the finish, the race leader was 3 laps ahead of the remaining privateer, the #1 Rebellion Racing Rebellion R13, which had enjoyed a largely trouble-free second half of the race, after a drama-filled first half, which had first seen it punted at turn 2, and a later gearbox issue which saw it make a trip to the garage. In LMP2, the #22 United Autosports Oreca scored its first WEC class victory with a dominant performance from the trio of Paul di Resta, Philip Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
The Anglo-American team's Oreca had led for the majority of the race and reached the chequered flag 21 seconds ahead of the second-placed Jota Sport car of António Félix da Costa, Roberto Gonzalez and Anthony Davidson at the finish.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
A Full Course Yellow with 40 minutes remaining in the race helped a number of the leading cars in the class to reach the end without needing to stop for an extra splash of fuel, with a key beneficiary being the guest #26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01, which held onto its fourth place behind the Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07, driven by Ho-Pin Tung, Will Stevens and Gabriel Aubry. The #36 Signatech Alpine A470 of Andre Negrao, Pierre Ragues and Thomas Laurent rounded the top 5 in the LMP2 class.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
In GTE-Pro, Aston Martin Racing claimed its second GTE-Pro win of the season, in what proved to be a hard-fought race in the desert. Marco Sørensen took the #95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE across the line, holding a 13.798s lead over the #71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Miguel Molina, with Molina being slapped with a late-race penalty, that severely impacted the #71's chances at victory.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
Initially, a quicker final stop for the Prodrive-run AMR team had put Sørensen out front of Molina in the final hour, following what had been a race-long duel in the desert, between the two manufacturers that went down to the wire, until the final hour. It was at the final hour, where AF Corse's and Molina's victory bid fell apart, when the Spaniard was served a drive-through penalty with just over 30 minutes left on the timer, for a spinning his wheels during his final scheduled stop, effectively handing over the win to Sorensen and his co-driver Nicki Thiim.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
However, the #71 AF Corse Ferrari of Molina and Davide Rigon was still able deny Aston Martin Racing a 1–2 finish, with Maxime Martin rounding out the class podium in 3rd, in the #97 entry alongside co-driver Alex Lynn. Initially, it was thought that the #97 would be denied third, after Calado in the #51 Ferrari had done an overtake from the outside of Martin, after the restart following the race's second Full Course Yellow, which occurred during the final hour.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
However, Calado's overtake was later reviewed by race officials, and as the overtake was deemed to have been made beyond track limits, the AF Corse driver was ordered to return the position with 20 minutes remaining on the timer. As a result, Calado and co-driver Alessandro Pier Guidi, were relegated to finishing fourth in class. The duo finished ahead of both Porsches, with the #91 Porsche 911 RSR of Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz coming in fifth, falling behind the class pack in the fourth hour with a right-rear puncture, resulting in an unscheduled pit stop.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
The #92 Porsche, which had entered the weekend as GTE championship leaders, fell out of contention for the race win, with a left-rear damper failure just minutes before the issue on the sister car occurred. The #92 crew of Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen eventually finished sixth, and at the tail end of the Pro class, but seventh in the overall GTE classification in the race, behind the Am class #57 Team Project 1 Porsche.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
In GTE-Am, Team Project 1 claimed a dominant class victory, with Ben Keating scoring his first career WEC win in the #57, sharing top honors with his longtime co-driver Jeroen Bleekemolen and Dutchman Larry ten Voorde. The Dutchman finished more than 30s ahead of the factory team run #98 Aston Martin Vantage GTE of Ross Gunn, Paul Dalla Lana and Darren Turner in second. The #86 Gulf Racing Porsche, meanwhile, scored its first class podium of the 2019–20 season, after a relatively consistent run to third. Initially, Keating and teammate Egidio Perfetti, from the sister #56 car had run a 1–2 formation early, until exhaust issues struck the #56 in the second hour of the race, sending it to the garage, and later tumbling down the order.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Report
GTE-Am championship leaders TF Sport, who had been seeking a hatrick of consecutive class wins, to further build up their lead in the standings, was one of just two retirements in the Pro-Am class, with the #90 Aston Martin dropping out of the race, having suffered from a fuel starvation issue with two hours to go to the end.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Post-Race
Following the race, 2 time FIA World Endurance Champion Sébastien Buemi said that the #8 crew were driving the car in a "survival mode", due to damage arising from various incidents during the race, including that from the opening-lap incident, where Buemi went off-course to avoid Bruno Senna's Rebellion R13, which initially resulted in a nose change in the first pit stop. This earlier setback was compounded later in the race, when Nakajima made contact while attempting to lap a Ferrari 488 GTE car, damaging the Toyota's floor and rear deck, costing the car downforce.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Post-Race
Toyota GAZOO Racing technical director Pascal Vasselon also admitted that a 1-2 finish had been unlikely to occur initially, due to the success ballast, and that they had benefited from the LMP1 privateer misfortunes, for the result to be achieved. He also added that the reason the team opted against changing the floor of the car was due to the length of time required to replace it, which could have potentially cost the car its 2nd-placed finish.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Post-Race
Also in the LMP1 class, third-place finisher Bruno Senna expressed his regret at giving Charlie Robertson in the #5 Ginetta any space while the duo were at turn 2, and felt that he should have had forced Robertson off-track, which would have prevented the 2 from colliding, believing that the collision had destabilized the internal system of the cars, leading to the issue with the car's electronic shifting system, that had ultimately forced it to pit for a lengthy repair during Hour 3. Rebellion Racing team manager Bart Hayden however, appeared to disagree with his driver's opinion, stating that it was a very remote possibility, as the Electronic Shifting Motor had been on the side of the car, away from the Ginetta G60-LT-P1 of Robertson.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Post-Race
Senna's co-driver, Gustavo Menezes did not comment on the possibility of the Electronic Shifting Motor failure and the turn 2 incident being linked, although he did agree that the Electronic Shifting Motor failure had cost the team the chance of winning the race, and that without the issue, the team could have caught up on the lost time from the collision.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Post-Race
Meanwhile, in LMP2, High Class Racing would drop Goodyear as its tyre supplier, with Michelin to supply the team from Lone Star Le Mans onwards. The Danish team would get its first running on Michelin tyres during the post-race test.


2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, Race, Race Result
The minimum number of laps for classification (70% of the overall winning car's race distance) was 180 laps. Class winners in bold.


2019 A Lyga
The 2019 A Lyga was the 30th season of the A Lyga, the top-tier association football league of Lithuania. The season began on 2 March 2019 and ended on 27 November 2019.


2019 A Lyga
Sūduva Marijampolė began the season as defending champions having won their second consecutive league title last year. They secured a third consecutive title in Aukštaitija Stadium on 3 November, after they beat Panevėžys 5–1.


2019 A Lyga
Only five league clubs survived throughout the year – Stumbras folded in the summer, while Atlantas and Palanga were disqualified in the off-season.


2019 A Lyga, Teams
Eight clubs competed – the top six of the 2018 season, the winner of the relegation play-offs and the champions of the 2018 LFF I Lyga. Palanga remained in the league having won the play-offs, while Panevėžys made their top-tier debut replacing relegated Jonava.


2019 A Lyga, Teams
Trakai changed their name to Riteriai during the preseason, for a better identification with Vilnius, where the main team has been located since 2014.


2019 A Lyga, Teams, Personnel and kits
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2019 A Lyga, Relegation play-offs
The 7th placed team will face the runners-up of the 2019 LFF I Lyga for a two-legged play-off. The winner on aggregate score after both matches will earn entry into the 2020 A Lyga.


2019 A Lyga, Positions by round
The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological progress, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.


2019 A Lyga, Attendance
Updated to games played on 9 November 2019Source: , Notes:1: Team played last season in the I Lyga


2019 A-League Grand Final
The 2019 A-League Grand Final was the fourteenth A-League Grand Final, the championship-deciding match of the A-League in Australia and the culmination of the 2018–19 season. It was played on the 19 May 2019 at Optus Stadium in Perth between Perth Glory and Sydney FC, who finished the regular season first and second respectively. This was the first A-League grand final hosted in Perth and it is the highest attended grand final in A-League history.


2019 A-League Grand Final
Sydney participated in their fifth grand final, winning three of the previous four played prior to this match. Perth participated in their sixth grand final overall and second in the A-League era, winning two of the previous five.


2019 A-League Grand Final
The match ended 0–0 after extra time, with Sydney winning 4–1 on penalties to secure their fourth A-League title.


2019 A-League Grand Final, Teams
In the following table, finals until 2004 were in the National Soccer League era, since 2006 were in the A-League era.


2019 A-League Grand Final, Route to the final
The A-League Grand Final is the grand final for the A-League, a professional club soccer league that is based in Australia and New Zealand. The 2018–19 season was the fourteenth season in history and also the 42nd of top-flight football in Australia. Each team played against each other three times throughout the season for a total of twenty seven matches. After the regular season, the top six teams qualified to play in the finals with the teams placed between third and sixth playing in week one of the finals while the top two teams got an week off. This meant that playing in the first week was, Adelaide United, Melbourne City, Melbourne Victory and Wellington Phoenix while Perth Glory and Sydney FC having the bye for the first week.


2019 A-League Grand Final, Route to the final
The grand final will be contested by Perth Glory and Sydney FC which respectively finished one and two after the regular season with Perth finishing ahead of Sydney by eight points. During the regular season, the two teams played three times with Sydney leading the head to head at two wins to one.


2019 A-League Grand Final, Route to the final, Perth Glory
During the pre-season, they acquired former Socceroos Tomislav Mrcela from Korean club Jeonnam Dragons, Matthew Spiranovic from Chinese club Zhejiang Greentown and Jason Davidson from Croatian side HNK Rijeka in what became a trio in the backline. In the opening game of the season, they drew with Western Sydney Wanderers 1-1 at home with Andy Keogh scoring the first goal for Perth in the 2018-19 season. After gaining win in Round 2 and 3, Perth went to the top of the table after knocking off Adelaide United with two goals in the second half from Andy Keogh and Chris Ikonomidis securing the victory.


2019 A-League Grand Final, Pre-match, Venue
The Grand Final was held at Optus Stadium in Perth, and was the second time that a major soccer match was held at the stadium, after the friendly between Perth Glory and Chelsea on 23 July 2018. The stadium is mainly used as an Australian rules football  ground for the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers in the Australian Football League in the winter months, while in the summer it's used for cricket for the Perth Scorchers and occasionally the Australia national cricket team.


2019 A-League Grand Final, Pre-match, Ticket details
Ticket sales started on the Monday prior to the event. In the first few hours over 35,000 tickets had been sold, of which 20,000 were from club members. Two days later tickets went on sale to the general public.


2019 A-League Grand Final, Match, Summary
The match started at 4:45pm AWST in Perth with Shaun Evans, receipt of the A-League Referee of the Year was the head referee for the match in what was his first A-League Grand Final.


2019 A-League Grand Final, Broadcasting
The Grand Final was broadcast live throughout Australia on Fox Sports and Network Ten. The radio rights for the grand final was held by ABC with their grandstand coverage of the game.


2019 A-Lyga (women)
The 2019 A-Lyga is the 27th edition of Lithuania's women's football league.


2019 AAA Texas 500
The 2019 AAA Texas 500 was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on November 3, 2019, at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Contested over 334 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) intermediate quad-oval, it was the 34th race of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, eighth race of the Playoffs, and second race of the Round of 8.


2019 AAA Texas 500, Report, Background
Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The track measures 1.5 miles (2.4 km) around and is banked 24 degrees in the turns, and is of the oval design, where the front straightaway juts outward slightly. The track layout is similar to Atlanta Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway (formerly Lowe's Motor Speedway). The track is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., the same company that owns Atlanta and Charlotte Motor Speedways, as well as the short-track Bristol Motor Speedway.


2019 AAA Texas 500, Practice, First practice
Clint Bowyer was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.620 seconds and a speed of 188.679 mph (303.649 km/h).


2019 AAA Texas 500, Practice, Final practice
Aric Almirola was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.638 seconds and a speed of 188.561 mph (303.460 km/h).


2019 AAA Texas 500, Qualifying
Kevin Harvick scored the pole for the race with a time of 28.465 and a speed of 189.707 mph (305.304 km/h).


2019 AAA Texas 500, Media, Television
NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Two–time Texas winner Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and 2000 Texas winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast reported from pit lane during the race.


2019 AAA Texas 500, Media, Radio
PRN covered their final 2019 broadcast, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice & Mark Garrow covered the action for PRN when the field raced down the front straightaway. Doug Turnbull covered the action for PRN from a platform outside of Turns 1 &2, & Pat Patterson covered the action from a platform outside of Turns 3 &4 for PRN. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, Wendy Venturini and Heather DeBeaux had the call from pit lane for PRN.


2019 AAF season
The 2019 AAF season was the only season in the history of the Alliance of American Football (AAF), which began on February 9, 2019. A ten-week regular season was scheduled for each of the league's eight teams.


2019 AAF season
On April 2, multiple sources indicated that Thomas Dundon, controlling owner of the AAF, had followed through on threats made in the previous week and suspended the AAF's operations, against the will of its founders. By the end of the week, the AAF front office had confirmed the suspension of operations and allowed players to opt-out of their contracts to sign with other leagues. The league filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on April 17, 2019.


2019 AAF season
At the time the season ended, eight out of ten scheduled weeks had been played, and the Orlando Apollos, with a league best 7–1 record two games ahead of its nearest competitors, had clinched no less than a share of the regular season's best record, regardless of how the rest of the schedule would have played out. A four-team playoff was scheduled to start on April 21, with a championship game on April 27. Initially scheduled for Sam Boyd Stadium on the outskirts of Las Vegas, Nevada, the title game was moved to the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, before the league ceased operations.


2019 AAF season, Teams
The Alliance of American Football had eight teams competing during its inaugural season.


2019 AAF season, Final standings
The Orlando Apollos clinched a playoff berth on March 24, and top seed in the Eastern Conference on March 30. The Birmingham Iron clinched a playoff berth on March 31.


2019 AAF season, Schedule
Each team had a ten-game regular season schedule, consisting of six in-conference games (home-and-away against each of the other three teams) and four out-of-conference games (one game against each of four teams; two home and two away). Weeks 2, 4, 6, and 9 were scheduled with out-of-conference games. Each team played one preseason exhibition game against an out-of-conference opponent. All of the preseason scrimmage games were held January 27–28 at the Alamodome, in conjunction with the league's training camp.


2019 AAF season, Playoffs
Following the 10-week regular season, the top two teams in each conference were due to face each other in conference championship games, hosted by the higher seeded team. These semifinals were scheduled for April 21. The winners would then meet in the league championship game on April 27 at a neutral site. Originally, the title game had been set for Sam Boyd Stadium near Las Vegas, Nevada announced October 23, 2018 , but was changed to Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas on March 20, 2019, before the season was ended.


2019 AAF season, Attendance
Announced attendance figures for each home game. In the weekly columns, dashes (—) indicate away games, while bold font indicates the highest attendance of each team. Games marked "N/A" were not played.


2019 AAF season, Statistical leaders
Records reflect statistics through the eight regular season games played by all teams.


2019 AAF season, Officials
The league used the eight-official system, also seen in NCAA college football. There were six officiating crews, staffed with officials from FBS conferences.


2019 AAF season, Officials
The officiating crews included one former NFL official—Jimmy DeBell, a back judge on the Smith crew—and three former NFL players: Nate Jones (side judge, Cruse crew), Terry Killens (umpire, Blake crew), and Mike Morton (umpire, Cruse crew).


2019 AAF season, Broadcasting
CBS Sports, Turner Sports and NFL Network served as the Alliance's broadcast partners for the 2019 season. The CBS Sports deal was announced at the time the league launched, while the Turner Sports and NFL Network contracts were announced less than two weeks before the season began.


2019 AAF season, Broadcasting, Viewership
One decimal place is shown in table but three decimal places are used in all calculations. None of CBS Sports Network's broadcasts register in the Nielsen Ratings and thus viewership estimates for those games are not available.


2019 AAF season, Broadcasting, Local radio coverage
Each AAF team had a local radio partner, and Sirius XM Radio carried a game of the week package.


2019 AAF season, Signees to other professional leagues, NFL
On April 4, the AAF announced players could leave their contracts to sign with NFL teams following the reported suspension of league football operations. The following 99 players signed with NFL teams:


2019 AAF season, Signees to other professional leagues, NFL
Nine players who were under contract with AAF teams at the time the league ceased operations made initial NFL 53-man active rosters on August 31, 2019: offensive tackle Brandon Greene with the Carolina Panthers, quarterback Garrett Gilbert and running back D'Ernest Johnson with the Cleveland Browns, cornerback De'Vante Bausby and defensive tackle Mike Purcell with the Denver Broncos, long snapper Cole Mazza with the Los Angeles Chargers, kicker Taylor Bertolet with the New York Jets, cornerback Kameron Kelly with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and offensive tackle Daniel Brunskill with the San Francisco 49ers.


2019 AAF season, Signees to other professional leagues, CFL
The following players signed with Canadian Football League (CFL) teams:


2019 AAF season, Signees to other professional leagues, CFL
The AAF reportedly blocked AAF players from signing with CFL teams, claiming their AAF contracts were "assets in potential bankruptcy proceedings." Plummer, Gilchrist, and Braverman had signed contracts with AAF teams, but had not yet been activated to the roster from their respective teams' rights lists at the time that the AAF suspended football operations. By April 18, CFL players were allowed to sign AAF players.


2019 AAF season, Signees to other professional leagues, AFL
The following players signed with Arena Football League (AFL) teams:


2019 AAF season, Signees to other professional leagues, AFL
Wide receiver Malachi Jones received first-team All-Arena, Receiver of the Year, and Offensive Player of the Year honors at the conclusion of the 2019 AFL season, which was also the AFL's final season before shutting down afterwards. Wide receiver Fabian Guerra was named co-Rookie of the Year as well.


2019 AAF season, Signees to other professional leagues, NAL
The following three players signed with National Arena League (NAL) teams:


2019 ABA League First Division Playoffs
The 2019 ABA League Playoffs was the play-off tournament that decides the winner of the 2018–19 ABA League First Division season. The playoffs had started on March 23, 2019 and ended on April 22, 2019. The winner of the play-offs, Crvena zvezda mts, qualified for the 2019–20 EuroLeague.


2019 ABA League Second Division Playoffs
The 2019 ABA League Second Division Playoffs is the play-off tournament that decided the winner of the 2018–19 ABA League Second Division season. The playoffs started on March 20, 2019 and ended on April 8, 2019. The winner of the play-offs qualified for the 2019–20 ABA League First Division.


2019 ABA League Supercup
The 2019 ABA League Supercup was the 3rd tournament of the ABA League Supercup, featuring teams from the Adriatic League First Division.


2019 ABA League Supercup, Qualified teams
Based on the results in the 2018–19 ABA League First Division season and the 2018–19 ABA League Second Division Champion there are 8 participants at the 2019 Adriatic Supercup. Qualified teams are the seven best placed teams of the First Division season and the Second Division Champion.


2019 ABL Finals
The 2019  ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) Finals was the best-of-5 championship series of the 2018–19 ABL season and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. BTN CLS Knights Indonesia and Singapore Slingers competed for the 9th championship contested by the league. After a decider Game 5, CLS Knights Indonesia eventually clinched the club's first franchise championship in its history, and the second ABL Championship that came from Indonesia. Maxie Esho was named as the Finals MVP.


2019 ABL Finals, Background, Head-to-head matchups
This is the first playoff and finals meeting between BTN CLS Knights Indonesia and Singapore Slingers.


2019 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
The 2019 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (or Rotterdam Open) was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It took place at the Rotterdam Ahoy arena in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, between 11–17 February 2019. It was the 46th edition of the Rotterdam Open, and part of the ATP Tour 500 series of the 2019 ATP Tour. The tournament also included a Men's Wheelchair Tennis Singles and Doubles draw. The wheelchair tennis event was an ITF-1 level tournament, with a total of $32,000 prize money.


2019 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following player received entry into the singles main draw using a protected ranking:


2019 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2019 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Doubles
Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut were the defending champions, but chose not to defend their title.


2019 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Doubles
Jérémy Chardy and Henri Kontinen won the title, defeating Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecău in the final, 7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–4).


2019 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Singles
Roger Federer was the defending champion, but chose not to participate this year.


2019 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Singles
Gaël Monfils won the title, defeating Stan Wawrinka in the final, 6–3, 1–6, 6–2. This was Wawrinka's first final in any ATP Tour event since the 2017 French Open.


2019 ACB Playoffs
The 2019 ACB Playoffs, also known as 2019 Liga Endesa Playoffs for sponsorship reasons, was the postseason tournament of the ACB's 2018–19 season, which began on 27 September 2018. The playoffs started on 30 May 2019 and ended on 21 June 2019 with the Finals.


2019 ACB Playoffs
Real Madrid defended successfully the title and conquered its second consecutive league, 35th overall.


2019 ACB Playoffs, Format
At the end of the regular season, the eight teams with the most wins qualify for the playoffs. The seedings are based on each team's record.


2019 ACB Playoffs, Format
The bracket is fixed; there is no reseeding. The quarterfinals are best-of-three series; the team that wins two games advances to the next round. This round is in a 1–1–1 format. From the semifinals onward, the rounds are best-of-five series; the team that wins three games advances to the next round. These rounds, including the Finals, are in a 2–2–1 format. Home court advantage in any round belong to the higher-seeded team.


2019 ACB Playoffs, Playoff qualifying
On 31 March 2019, Barça Lassa became the first team to clinch a playoff spot.


2019 ACB Playoffs, Bracket
Teams in bold advance to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding, and the numbers to the right indicate the result of games including result in bold of the team that won in that game.


2019 ACB Playoffs, Quarterfinals, Real Madrid v Baxi Manresa
This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams, with Real Madrid winning two of the first three meetings.


2019 ACB Playoffs, Quarterfinals, Barça Lassa v Divina Seguros Joventut
This was the 12th playoff meeting between these two teams, with Barça Lassa winning eight of the first 11 meetings.


2019 ACB Playoffs, Quarterfinals, Kirolbet Baskonia v Tecnyconta Zaragoza
This was the first meeting in the playoffs between Kirolbet Baskonia and Tecnyconta Zaragoza.


2019 ACB Playoffs, Quarterfinals, Valencia Basket v Unicaja
This was the sixth playoff meeting between these two teams, with Unicaja winning three of the first five meetings.


2019 ACB Playoffs, Semifinals, Real Madrid v Valencia Basket
This was the sixth playoff meeting between these two teams, with Real Madrid winning four of the first five meetings.


2019 ACB Playoffs, Semifinals, Barça Lassa v Tecnyconta Zaragoza
This was the first meeting in the playoffs between Barça Lassa and Tecnyconta Zaragoza.


2019 ACB Playoffs, Finals
This was the 19th playoff meeting between these two teams, with each team winning nine series.


2019 ACC Championship Game
The 2019 ACC Championship Game was a college football game played on December 7, 2019. It was the 15th annual ACC Championship Game, played to determine the 2019 champion of the Atlantic Coast Conference football season. The game was held at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Clemson Tigers defeated the Virginia Cavaliers, 62–17.


2019 ACC Championship Game, History
The 2019 Championship Game was the 15th in the Atlantic Coast Conference's 67-year history. Last season, the ACC Championship Game featured the Clemson Tigers, champions of the Atlantic Division, and the Pitt Panthers, champions of the Coastal Division. This was Pitt's first appearance in the Championship Game, and they were the sixth different school to come out of the Coastal Division in the past six seasons. Clemson won the 2018 game 42–10 for their fourth consecutive ACC title, and went on to win the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship.


2019 ACC Championship Game, Teams, Clemson
Clemson clinched the Atlantic division for the fifth consecutive year, and entered the game with an undefeated 12–0 record for the third time in that span. The Tigers entered the title game as the four-time-defending conference champions, and the defending national champions.


2019 ACC Championship Game, Teams, Virginia
Virginia clinched the Coastal division after defeating rival Virginia Tech in the regular season finale to finish the regular season at 9–3 (6–2 ACC). With the win, Virginia snapped a 15-game losing streak to their in-state rival. The Cavaliers made their first appearance in the ACC Championship Game, and also concluded a seven-year stretch in which all seven members of the Coastal division appeared in the title game.


2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup
The 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup was the fourth edition of the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup held in Bangladesh between 14 and 23 November 2019. Eight teams participated in the tournament, including five under-23 age level teams of Test nations and the top three teams from the 2018 Asia Cup Qualifier. The tournament was organized by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). Nepal replaced the United Arab Emirates, after they pulled out due to an unknown reason. Nepal qualified on virtue of being fourth in the Asia Cup qualifier.


2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup
Pakistan won the tournament, beating Bangladesh by 77 runs in the final.


2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup, Squads
Prior to the start of the tournament,  India's Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Arshdeep Singh were ruled out of the tournament and were replaced by Aditya Thakare and Shivam Mavi respectively.


2019 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2019 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament was the 66th annual postseason men's basketball tournament for the Atlantic Coast Conference, held March 12–16, 2019 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.


2019 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament
The Virginia Cavaliers and North Carolina Tar Heels entered the tournament as the top two seeds, both with 16–2 conference, and ranked #2 and #3 in the country respectively. Both teams were defeated in the semifinals, by the #4 Florida State Seminoles (ranked #12 nationally) and the #3 Duke Blue Devils (ranked #5 nationally). Duke defeated Florida State, 73–63, in the championship game, claiming their 21st ACC Tournament title and 15th during head coach Mike Krzyzewski's tenure. Duke's Zion Williamson was named the tournament's MVP.


2019 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament, Seeds
All 15 ACC teams participated in the tournament, seeded by their record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. The top 4 seeds (Virginia, North Carolina, Duke, and Florida State) received a double bye. Virginia Tech, Syracuse, NC State, Louisville, and Clemson receive single byes. Boston College, Miami, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame played in the first round.


2019 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament, Schedule
Games were shown on over-the-air television in local media markets by the syndicated ACC Network. Games also aired nationally on various ESPN cable networks with separate telecasts and commentators. The tournament marked the formal end of Raycom Sports' long-term association with the conference; its event rights will now be held by ESPN as part of its new cable channel ACC Network.


2019 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament
The 2019 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Soccer Tournament was the 33rd edition of the ACC Men's Soccer Tournament. The tournament decided the Atlantic Coast Conference champion and guaranteed representative into the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament. The final was played at Sahlen's Stadium in Cary, NC.


2019 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament
The defending champions were the Louisville Cardinals. Louisville was unable to defend its crown, losing to Virginia Tech in the first round. The Virginia Cavaliers claimed their eleventh title by beating Clemson in the final.


2019 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament, Qualification
All twelve teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference earned a berth into the ACC Tournament. The top 4 seeds received first round byes and hosted the winner of a first round game. All rounds, with the exception of the final were held at the higher seed's home field. Seeding is determined by regular season conference record.


2019 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament, Bracket
*Note: Home team listed first. Rankings shown are ACC Tournament Seeds.


2019 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup
The 2019 Under-19 Asia Cup was the 8th edition of ACC Under-19 Cup. The cricket tournament was held in Sri Lanka from 5 to 15 September 2019. 8 teams participated in the tournament, including 5 full members and three qualifiers.


2019 ACC Western Region T20
The 2019 ACC Western Region T20 was a Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket tournament held in Oman from 20 to 24 January 2019. The five participating teams were Bahrain, Kuwait, Maldives, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The matches were all played at the Al Amerat Cricket Stadium in Muscat. All participating nations made their T20I debuts during the tournament, following the decision of the ICC to grant full Twenty20 International status to all its members from 1 January 2019. Saudi Arabia defeated Qatar – who had been unbeaten in the round-robin stage – in the final by 7 wickets. Qatar's Tamoor Sajjad was named the player of the tournament.


2019 ACC Women's Basketball Tournament
This is the current revision of this page, as edited by Jweiss11 (talk | contribs) at 00:06, 13 March 2020 (rem parent cat). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this version.


2019 ACC Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2019 Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament, concluded the 2018–19 season of the Atlantic Coast Conference, which was held at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, from March 6–10, 2019. Notre Dame, which finished atop the ACC regular-season table along with Louisville, won the tournament and with it the ACC's automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament.


2019 ACC Women's Basketball Tournament, Seeds
Seeding was determine based on the regular season. Each team played 16 regular season games, at least one versus each other team in the ACC.


2019 ACC Women's Basketball Tournament, Schedule
All games will be televised on the Raycom network within the ACC footprint and simulcast nationally on the ESPN networks denoted below.


2019 ACC Women's Basketball Tournament, All-Tournament Teams
Jackie Young - Notre Dame (MVP)Asia Durr - LouisvilleJessica Shepard - Notre DameTiana Magakahia - SyracuseElissa Cunane - NC State


2019 ACC Women's Basketball Tournament, All-Tournament Teams
Taylor Emery - Virginia TechArike Ogunbowale - Notre DameAliyah Collier - ClemsonParis Kea - North CarolinaSam Fuehring - Louisville


2019 ACC Women's Soccer Tournament
The 2019 Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Soccer Tournament was the 32nd edition of the ACC Women's Soccer Tournament. The tournament decided the Atlantic Coast Conference champion and guaranteed representative into the 2019 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament. The semifinals and final were played at Sahlen's Stadium in Cary, NC.


2019 ACC Women's Soccer Tournament
The defending champions were the Florida State Seminoles. The Seminoles fell in their title defense in the semifinals, losing to Virginia. North Carolina beat Virginia in the final, 2–1, to claim their twenty-second ACC title. It was coach Anson Dorrance's twenty-second title as well.


2019 ACC Women's Soccer Tournament, Qualification
The top eight teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference earned a berth into the ACC Tournament. The quarterfinal round was held at campus sites, while the semifinals and final took place at Sahlen's Stadium in Cary, North Carolina.


2019 ADAC Formula 4 Championship
The 2019 ADAC Formula 4 Championship was the fifth season of the ADAC Formula 4, an open-wheel motor racing series. It was a multi-event motor racing championship that featured drivers competing in 1.4 litre Tatuus-Abarth single seat race cars that conformed to the technical regulations for the championship. It began on 27 April at Oschersleben and finished on 29 September at Sachsenring after seven triple header rounds.


2019 ADAC Formula 4 Championship, Race calendar and results
Venues for the 2019 season were announced with the first Hockenheim round as support event of the 2019 German Grand Prix, while other event are scheduled to support 2019 ADAC GT Masters.


2019 ADAC Formula 4 Championship, Championship standings
Points are awarded to the top 10 classified finishers in each race. No points are awarded for pole position or fastest lap.


2019 ADAC Formula 4 Championship, Championship standings, Teams' Championship
Before each round, teams nominate two drivers to be eligible for Teams' Championship points.


2019 ADAC GT Masters
The 2019 ADAC GT Masters was the thirteenth season of the ADAC GT Masters, the grand tourer-style sports car racing founded by the German automobile club ADAC. The season began on 27 April at Oschersleben and ended on 29 September at the Sachsenring after seven double-header meetings.


2019 ADAC GT Masters, Race calendar and results
On 23 September 2018, the ADAC announced the 2019 calendar.


2019 ADAC GT Masters, Championship standings
Championship points are awarded for the first fifteen positions in each race. Entries are required to complete 75% of the winning car's race distance in order to be classified and earn points. Individual drivers are required to participate for a minimum of 25 minutes in order to earn championship points in any race.


2019 ADAC GT4 Germany
The 2019 ADAC GT4 Germany season is the inaugural season of the ADAC GT4 Germany, a sports car championship created and organised by the ADAC. The season began on 27 April at Oschersleben and ended on 29 September at the Sachsenring after six double-header meetings.


2019 ADAC GT4 Germany, Race calendar and results
On 23 September 2018, the ADAC announced the 2019 calendar.


2019 ADAC GT4 Germany, Championship standings
Championship points are awarded for the first fifteen positions in each race. Entries are required to complete 75% of the winning car's race distance in order to be classified and earn points. Individual drivers are required to participate for a minimum of 25 minutes in order to earn championship points in any race.


2019 ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship
The 2019 ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship will be the fourth season of touring car racing to be run by the German-based sanctioning body ADAC to the TCR regulations. The series will run predominately in ADAC's home nation Germany. As a support category to the ADAC GT Masters series, the championship will also take in races in the neighbouring nations of Austria, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.


2019 ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship
On 20 December 2018 it was announced a partnership between the series' promoter and Auto Sport Switzerland, the Swiss National Sporting Authority, which was going see all 7 rounds of the calendar as part of the 2019 TCR Swiss Trophy which was set to be in its second edition. The TCR Swiss Trophy was set be open to Swiss drivers as well as any driver with valid racing license, issued by Auto Sport Switzerland. On 23 April 2019 it was announced by Auto Sport Switzerland that the TCR Swiss Trophy will be postponed until 2020 due to lack of entries.


2019 ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship
Harald Proczyk will be the defending Drivers' champion, while HP Racing International will the defending Teams' champions.


2019 ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship, Teams and drivers
Yokohama is set to become the official tire supplier, taking over from Hankook.


2019 ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship, Calendar and results
The 2018 schedule was announced on 23 September 2018, with three events scheduled to be held outside Germany. The championship will again run in support of the ADAC GT Masters weekends as well as ADAC GT4 Germany and ADAC Formula 4 (with the exception at Autodrom Most).


2019 AFA Senior Male League
The 2019 AFA Senior Male League is the 20th season of the AFA Senior Male League, the men's football league in Anguilla.


2019 AFC Annual Awards
The 2019 AFC Annual Awards were the awards for football players and coaches of the year in Asia. The award ceremony was held in Hong Kong on 2 December 2019.


2019 AFC Asian Cup
The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 February 2019.


2019 AFC Asian Cup
For the first time, the Asian Cup final tournament was contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format that was used from 2004 to 2015. Under this new format, the finalists would contest a group stage consisting of six groups of four teams, followed by a knockout stage of 16 teams.


2019 AFC Asian Cup
The host nation qualified for the final tournament automatically, while the remaining 23 places were determined among the other 45 national teams of the AFC through a qualifying competition running from 2015 to 2018, part of which also served as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process for the confederation.


2019 AFC Asian Cup
The tournament was won for the first time by Qatar, who defeated Japan 3–1 in the final. This was also Qatar's first ever top 4 finish in the competition. The defending champions (Australia), were eliminated by the hosts (UAE) at the quarter-finals, who subsequently lost to the eventual champions in the semi-finals.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Host selection
The bidding procedure and timeline for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup was approved at the AFC congress on 28 November 2012. The winning bid was originally set to be announced at an AFC congress in June, then November 2014. However, at its 60th Anniversary celebrations at the end of 2014, AFC gave the date of 'summer 2015' to when an announcement would be made.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Host selection
In January 2015, AFC general secretary Alex Soosay said that Iran and the United Arab Emirates were the only two remaining bidders for the 2019 Asian Cup, and that the eventual hosts would be announced in March 2015.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Host selection
On 9 March 2015, during an AFC Executive Committee meeting in Manama, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates was announced as the host. This was the second time the country hosted the tournament, after the 1996 edition.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Qualification
The 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification process determined the 24 participating teams for the tournament. In 2014, a proposal to merge the preliminary qualification rounds of the FIFA World Cup with those of the AFC Asian Cup was ratified by the AFC Competitions Committee. The new qualification structure took place in three stages, with the first two merging with the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification In the first round, the lowest ranked teams played home-and-away over two legs to reduce the total number of teams to 40.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Qualification
In the second round, the 40 teams were divided into eight groups of five to play home-and-away round-robin matches, where the eight group winners and the four best group runners-up qualified for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals. In the third round, the next best 24 teams eliminated from second round were divided into six groups of four and competed for the remaining slots of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. The first qualifying round of the qualification took place on 12 March 2015, and the final match of the third round took place on 27 March 2018.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Qualified teams
India, Syria, Thailand and Turkmenistan qualified to the tournament after being absent in several Asian Cup tournaments spanning from 2004 to 2015. Lebanon and Vietnam both qualified for the first time after hosting the tournaments, in 2000 and 2007 respectively. For Vietnam, this was the first time they qualified for the AFC Asian Cup as a unified nation, having participated as South Vietnam in the first two editions (1956 and 1960), outside of hosting the 2007 edition.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Qualified teams
This was also the first time Yemen qualified for the AFC Asian Cup as a unified country, due to FIFA and AFC categorizing the participation of South Yemen in the 1976 as a distinct record not related to Yemen, who succeeded North Yemen. In addition to Yemen, the Philippines and Kyrgyzstan also marked this edition as their first times to qualify for an Asian Cup.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Qualified teams
Tajikistan, along with its fellow CAFA member nation Afghanistan, were the only two countries from their confederation who failed to qualify for the tournament. Iran qualified to the Asian Cup for the first time as a CAFA member, having qualified as part of the WAFF before. Malaysia and Indonesia were the only co-hosts of the 2007 edition that did not qualify for the Asian Cup, as Malaysia had ended their campaign in disaster with just one point out of six matches; while Indonesia was barred from entering the qualification due to tension inside the PSSI which led to FIFA suspension.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Qualified teams
Kuwait was the only Arab country not to qualify for the Asian Cup, as they were also barred from completing the qualification due to FIFA's sanction. India remained as the only South Asian team to qualify for the tournament. On 13 November 2018, the Asian Football Confederation warned the Iranian government to stop meddling in the country's football association, otherwise it would have faced sanctions before the Asian Cup.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Draw
The draw of the final tournament was held on 4 May 2018, 19:30 GST, at the Armani Hotel in the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The FIFA rankings of April 2018 were used as basis for the seeding. The 12 teams that secured their place in the final tournament by the end of the second round of the qualification process were placed in Pots 1 and 2 while the remaining teams which qualified during the third round were allocated to the remaining pots. As hosts, the United Arab Emirates were seeded into Pot 1. The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four teams, with the hosts placed in position A1. Four renowned Asian players: Ali Daei, Sun Jihai, Sunil Chhetri and Phil Younghusband were chosen to draw the teams.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Draw
United Arab Emirates (81) (hosts) Iran (36)  Australia (40)  Japan (60)  South Korea (61)  Saudi Arabia (70)


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Draw
China PR (73) Syria (76) Uzbekistan (88) Iraq (88) Qatar (101) Thailand (122)


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Draw
Kyrgyzstan (75) Lebanon (82) Palestine (83) Oman (87) India (97) Vietnam (103)


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Draw
North Korea (112) Philippines (113) Bahrain (116) Jordan (117) Yemen (125) Turkmenistan (129)


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Draw, Draw result
Teams were drawn consecutively into Group A to F. Teams from each pot were assigned to the positions of their groups following by number orders of group stage, for example Pot 1 team were assigned to A1, and continued.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Squads
Each team had to register a squad with a minimum of 18 players and a maximum of 23 players, at least three of whom must be goalkeepers.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Match officials
On 5 December 2018, the AFC announced the list of 30 referees, 30 assistant referees, two stand-by referees and two stand-by assistant referees, including one referee and two assistant referees from CONCACAF for the tournament. Video assistant referees (VAR) would be used from the quarter-finals onwards. In each match, the referee and his assistants were accompanied by two additional assistant referees stationed next to each team's goalpost.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Venues
After being awarded the bid, initially the UAE chose six stadiums to host the tournament. The six stadiums were Zayed Sports City Stadium and Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium and Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, and Dubai's Al Ahli Stadium and DSC Stadium. Later, two stadiums in Dubai were dropped due to financial problems and were replaced by Al Maktoum Stadium and Rashid Stadium, which were also located in Dubai.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Venues
After the 2015 Asian Cup, the AFC agreed to increase the number of teams from 16 to 24, following the UEFA Euro 2016. Hence, more stadiums were about to be chosen and rebuilt, in which Sharjah and Abu Dhabi won the rights to have more stadiums for the tournament. Sharjah Stadium and Al Nahyan Stadium were chosen aftermath, finalized the number of stadium to eight.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Venues
The eight venues used are Zayed Sports City Stadium, Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium, and Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium and Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, Al Maktoum Stadium and Rashid Stadium in Dubai, and Sharjah Stadium in Sharjah.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Format
The tournament was expanded to 24 teams from the previous format of 16 teams, which had been used since 2004. Only the hosts will receive an automatic qualification spot, while the other 23 teams will qualify through a qualification tournament. At the finals, the 24 teams will be drawn into six groups of four teams each. The teams in each group play a single round robin. After the group stage, the top two teams and the four best third teams will advance to the knockout stage, beginning with the round of 16. For the first time since a knockout stage was added to the competition in 1972, there will be no third place play-off.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Schedule
The AFC announced the official match schedule on 7 May 2018. Zayed Sports City Stadium, one of three stadiums in Abu Dhabi, staged both the opening match and the final. At least five matches were allocated to each venue, with every ground hosting at least one match in the knockout stage. The semi-finals were played on different days in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. No city hosted two matches on the same day – except in the final round of group stage matches when simultaneous kick-off is required.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Group stage
The top two teams of each group and the four best third-placed teams advanced to the round of 16.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Group stage, Tiebreakers
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Group stage, Group A
Group A saw the opening match of the tournament which was a one-all draw between United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, with Ahmed Khalil getting the equaliser in the 88th minute after going one goal down only ten minutes prior. UAE and Thailand qualified as the top two nations in the group after a 1–1 draw at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, and Bahrain qualified in third place after a 1–0 win over India. India finished last in the group after they recorded their first win in the Asian Cup for 55 years over Thailand in their opening match, before losing their remaining two games.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Group stage, Group B
Group B saw Jordan qualify top of the group after defeating the defending champions in the opening match from an Anas Bani Yaseen header. This was followed up by a 2–0 win over Syria which saw Syrian manager Bernd Stange sacked after the match and being replaced by Fajr Ibrahim. Joining them in the round of 16 was Australia, who after losing to Jordan in their opening match, got two wins over Palestine and Syria with that match only being won by a goal from Tom Rogic in injury time.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Group stage, Group C
Group C saw South Korea and China qualify through as the top two seeds with the game between the two matches seeing South Korea on top of the group after a 2–0 win. This meant that South Korea finished without conceding a goal after previously getting two 1–0 wins over the Philippines and Kyrgyzstan.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Group stage, Group C
In the battle for third place, it was between two newcomers to the competition, with Kyrgyzstan getting their first win in an Asian competition with a hat-trick from Vitalij Lux, securing a 3–1 win for the central Asian team despite a late consolation goal from Stephan Schröck, which was the first Philippine goal in the tournament.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Group stage, Group D
Group D saw Iran and Iraq both qualify through to the round of 16 as the top two teams after both finished the group with seven points following their match finishing in a 0–0 draw at the Al Maktoum Stadium. Iran finished top of the group on goal difference, largely in part to their 5–0 defeat of debutantes Yemen in their first game, which included a double from Mehdi Taremi. A 2–0 win over Vietnam saw the team go through with three clean sheets from three. Iraq had a tougher game in their opener against Vietnam, with only a late 90th-minute goal from Ali Adnan securing them three points. This would later be followed with a 3–0 win over Yemen to qualify with Iran, with Vietnam qualifying in third place after a 2–0 victory over Yemen.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Group stage, Group E
Group E witnessed Qatar and Saudi Arabia qualify to the round of 16. In the decisive match for first place, Qatar beat Saudi Arabia 2–0, thanks to a brace by Almoez Ali. Qatar began their campaign with a comfortable, albeit controversial, 2–0 win over Lebanon, before beating North Korea 6–0, sealing their place in the knockout stage. Ali was decisive in both games, scoring a goal against Lebanon, and four goals against North Korea. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia opened their account with a 4–0 win over North Korea, before booking a place to the next round by beating Lebanon 2–0. In their last fixture, Lebanon beat North Korea 4–1 with a Hilal El-Helwe brace; the win was Lebanon's first in the competition. However, Lebanon missed out on the next round on fair play points.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Group stage, Group F
Group F saw Japan and Uzbekistan progressing to the round of 16, with Japan defeating Uzbekistan 2–1 to finish in first place. Japan began their campaign with a 3–2 victory over Turkmenistan, before beating Oman 1–0 to qualify to the knockout stage. Uzbekistan, on the other hand, beat Oman 2–1 thanks to an 85th-minute goal by Eldor Shomurodov, before beating their neighbors Turkmenistan 4–0. Oman qualified to the next round for the first time, after winning 3–1 over Turkmenistan, with Mohammed Al-Musalami scoring a goal in the injury time.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary. A fourth substitution could be made during extra time.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Statistics, Goalscorers
There were 130 goals scored in 51 matches, for an average of 2.55 goals per match.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Statistics, Discipline
A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Statistics, Awards
According to the AFC organization committee, eight players from the winning Qatari team and five players from the runner-up Japanese team were selected in the team of the tournament. Six players from teams which progressed to the semi-finals (Iran and the United Arab Emirates) were also selected. In addition, four players from teams which progressed to the quarter-finals were selected. Nguyễn Quang Hải became the second player from Southeast Asia to be included on the team of the tournament after Soh Chin Ann in 1980.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Statistics, Awards
Abdelkarim Hassan Bassam Al-Rawi Boualem Khoukhi Yuto Nagatomo Maya Yoshida Bandar Al-Ahbabi Kim Min-jae


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Statistics, Awards
Abdulaziz Hatem Hassan Al-Haydos Gaku Shibasaki Ashkan Dejagah Omid Ebrahimi Tom Rogic


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Statistics, Awards
Almoez Ali Akram Afif Yuya Osako Sardar Azmoun Ali Mabkhout Wu Lei Nguyễn Quang Hải


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Marketing, Logo and slogan
The official logo of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup was unveiled on 23 January 2017 in Abu Dhabi during the drawing ceremony for the third round of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification. The colors used in the logo were derived from the flag of the UAE. The seven hexagons formed by colored ribbons represents the seven emirates of the host country. The interlacing hexagon pattern of the logo was inspired from Islamic art, as well as the old Emirati tradition of using palm leaves, locally known as saf, in weaving. The outer circle along with the geometric design within it symbolizes the sport of football.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Marketing, Logo and slogan
The slogan "Bringing Asia Together" (Arabic: جمع آسيا معاً) was unveiled on 5 January 2018, a year before the tournament's kick-off.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Marketing, Match ball
The official match ball was provided by Molten Corporation. According from the AFC, the match ball would be known as Molten Acentec.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Marketing, Mascots
During the final draw on 4 May 2018, two mascots, Mansour and Jarrah, were unveiled. Mansour is a typical Arab football kid, while Jarrah is an Arabian falcon with lightning speed.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Marketing, Trophy
Also on the drawing day on 4 May 2018, an all new trophy made by Thomas Lyte was unveiled. It is 78 centimeters tall, 42 centimeters wide, and weighs 15 kilograms of silver. The trophy is modeled over lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant. Five petals of the lotus symbolized the five sub-confederations under the AFC. The winner names are engraved around the trophy base, which is separable from the trophy's main body.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Marketing, Prize money
Total prize money pool for the tournament was US$14,800,000. The champions would receive US$5 million, the runners-up will receive US$3 million, and the losing semi-finalists would receive US$1 million. All 24 participating teams would also receive US$200,000.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Marketing, Team bus slogans
The tournament organizers held a competition where fans got to choose and vote on slogans to be used on the team buses of the 24 participating national teams.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Broadcasting
The tournament was broadcast live by around 80 TV channels covering the whole world. 800 million people were expected to watch matches, with the tournament reaching a potential TV audience of more than 2.5 billion people.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Broadcasting
ESPN5 made a "competitive bid" to broadcast the tournament on free-to-air television in the Philippines, but it was not accepted by the AFC.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Broadcasting
In the Middle East, where Qatar-based BeIN Sports has rights to broadcast the Asian Cup in the region, BeoutQ (allegedly backed by Saudi Arabia) also illegally broadcast the tournament as part of a proxy conflict in a diplomatic crisis between Qatar and various Arab states. The AFC has noted BeoutQ's broadcast and condemned it for "persistent and illegal screening".


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Broadcasting
For the first time since the expulsion of Israel from the Asian Football Confederation, the UAE allowed Israeli TV channel Sport 5 to directly broadcast the tournament. This was seen as a sign of warming relations between Israel and the UAE. Sport 5 officially broadcast the opening match between the UAE and Bahrain, and had remained active until the end of the tournament. A year later in the following tournament, Israel and the United Arab Emirates officially normalised relations.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Broadcasting
At the end of the tournament, AFC announced that the 2019 Asian Cup was the most engaging in history across all social platforms reaching 169.4 million impressions, an increase by more than fifteen times from the 11 million reach from 2015 AFC Asian Cup.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Broadcasting
Broadcast rights are sold by Lagardère Sports on behalf of the AFC.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Controversies, Australia vs. Palestine
Many ticket-holding fans were locked out of the Group B match between Palestine and Australia, with management closing a number of Rashid Stadium gates before the start of the match “in the interests of fan safety”. Rashid Stadium was one of the smallest stadiums in the tournament with only 12,000 seats and many non-ticket holding fans attempted to watch the match without buying tickets.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Controversies, Australia vs. Palestine
The organizing committee issued a statement for the reasons of closure stating “Ahead of kick-off a large crowd of fans with and without tickets had gathered over a short period of time outside the stadium, which resulted in the need to secure the area." They then issued an apology to supporters who were “inconvenienced or left disappointed” and issued an investigative probe to insure it to be an isolated incident.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Controversies, Qatar travel complications
As a result of Qatar diplomatic crisis between Qatar and number of its neighbours since 5 June 2017, including the United Arab Emirates as the host country, the UAE suspended all direct flights between the two countries and initially banned Qatari citizens from entering their country, although the Emirati government later announced that it would permit Qatari citizens temporary entry into the country pending approval from Emirati authorities.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Controversies, Qatar travel complications
According to a report, Saoud al-Mohannadi, a Qatari national who is the AFC vice-president and chairman of the organizing committee for the Asian Cup, was unable to enter the UAE two days prior to the tournament's start because Emirati authorities had not yet cleared him. The director of the 2019 AFC Organizing Committee denied reports that Al Mohannadi was refused entry and declared that Al Mohannadi has arrived on Friday morning and was preparing for his meetings. The director stated that there was no evidence that shows he was unable to enter and stated that this news has "political purposes". He stated "We try to keep sports away from politics."


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Controversies, Qatar travel complications
The diplomatic crisis prevented many fans from attending Qatar matches in the UAE. This had affected attendance figures in Qatar matches, as little more than 450 people spectated the Group E clash between North Korea and Qatar on 13 January. The UAE government had confirmed previously that Qatari citizens may enter UAE with prior permission obtained directly through a hotline from UAE authorities.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Controversies, Qatar travel complications
According to Qatar's Sports Press Committee, five Qatar-based media representatives were denied entry into the UAE despite having entry visas and receiving assurances that they would be allowed to attend and report on the tournament by the AFC. The AFC Media Committee dismissed the Qatari reports and stated that some of the Qatar-based journalists confused visit visas with work visas and advised all journalists to contact them if they encounter any issues with the entry visa type.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Controversies, Qatar travel complications
According to Al Jazeera, the final match, which was won by Qatar, was played "almost entirely without" Qatari support from the stands, due to the travel ban. However, according to Qatar-based The Peninsula large number of Omani fans supported the Qatari team in the stadium, stating "The large number of fans who supported the Qatari team were wearing the logo of Al Annabi [The Maroons] with the background of the names of various players. Apart from their attendance, they carried flags in the stadium and continued to cheer for Al Annabi [The Maroons] players and sing songs throughout the game."


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Controversies, Footwear-throwing incident
During the semi-final match between Qatar and hosts United Arab Emirates, some UAE supporters threw bottles and footwear into the match after Qatari players scored their second goal; the latter is considered to be highly offensive in the Middle East. One of the Qatari players, Salem Al Hajri, was struck on the head with a shoe after Qatar scored its third goal. This conduct was preceded by booing the Qatari national anthem. The two countries had had a hostile relationship and had cut diplomatic ties due to the ongoing diplomatic crisis. Qatar won 4–0 despite the events, reaching their first Asian Cup final. Afterwards, the AFC declared that it would conduct an investigation into the proceedings.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Controversies, Qatar player eligibility
On 30 January 2019, soon after the hosts lost to Qatar in the semi-finals, the United Arab Emirates Football Association lodged a formal appeal to the AFC over the eligibility of Sudanese-born Almoez Ali and Iraqi-born Bassam Al-Rawi, claiming that they did not qualify to play for Qatar on residency grounds per Article 7 of the Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA statutes, which states a player is eligible to play for a representative team if he has "lived continuously for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant association". It was alleged that Ali and Al-Rawi had not lived continuously in Qatar for at least five years over the age of 18, although the players claimed that their mothers were born in Qatar.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Controversies, Qatar player eligibility
Only hours prior to the start of the final on 1 February 2019, the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee announced that it had dismissed the protest lodged by the UAEFA.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Controversies, Qatar football shirt fan incident
A British-Sudanese football fan claimed he was beaten and arrested for wearing a Qatar football shirt to a match in which Qatar was playing and then, after reporting to the police, arrested and accused of wasting police time and making false statements of being assaulted. In an interview with Sky News, he claimed he was beaten, starved, and deprived of sleep by the police for wearing Qatar shirt. The fan claims were denied by UAE authorities who stated the fan was arrested for wasting police time and making false assault claims to the police.


2019 AFC Asian Cup, Controversies, Qatar football shirt fan incident
The police claimed that the fan had admitted to making false statements and his offense will be processed through the courts. An official in UAE embassy in London stated “He was categorically not arrested for wearing a Qatar football shirt. This is instead an instance of a person seeking media attention and wasting police time.”


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final
The 2019 AFC Asian Cup Final was a football match which determined the winner of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial tournament contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of the Asian Football Confederation. The match was held at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 1 February 2019 and was contested by Japan and Qatar.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final
Japan had won in each of its four previous AFC Asian Cup finals, while Qatar were playing in their first, which they managed to reach without conceding a goal in the prior six matches. Qatar won the final 3–1 for their first AFC Asian Cup title, scoring twice in the first half and earning a late penalty in the second half. For Japan, this was their first defeat in an Asian Cup final. Qatari fans were largely unable to attend the tournament due to the ongoing Qatar diplomatic crisis.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Venue
Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the largest stadium in the United Arab Emirates, hosted the Asian Cup Final. The 43,000-seat stadium was built in 1980 and is primarily used by the Emirati national football team. Zayed Sports City was the host of the 1996 Asian Cup Final and 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship final, as well as several FIFA Club World Cup finals, most recently in 2018. The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority solicited independent bids in 2015 to build a 60,000-seat stadium to host the Asian Cup final, but Zayed Sports City Stadium was announced in 2017 as the venue for the opening match and final.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Route to the final, Japan
Japan is the most successful nation at the Asian Cup, having won it a record four times—most recently in 2011. They qualified for the 2019 tournament by topping Group E with an undefeated record of seven wins and one draw, scoring 27 goals and conceding none. After the team reached the round of 16 during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, head coach Akira Nishino was replaced by Hajime Moriyasu, who had assisted Nishino and served as coach of the under-23 team preparing for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Moriyasu elected to exclude several veteran players in his Asian Cup squad, including midfielder Shinji Kagawa and striker Shinji Okazaki, with the goal of exposing younger, in-form players to international competition. Under Moriyasu's tenure, Japan was undefeated in five matches before the start of the Asian Cup.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Route to the final, Japan
In their opening match of the Asian Cup, Japan faced Turkmenistan and conceded a goal in the 26th minute, a long-range strike by Arslanmyrat Amanow, and entered halftime trailing 1–0. Japan took the lead in the second half with a brace from Yuya Osako, who scored in the 56th and 60th minutes, and added a third goal by Ritsu Doan eleven minutes later. The lead was cut back to 3–2 by a penalty kick scored in the 78th minute by Ahmet Ataýew.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Route to the final, Japan
Moriyasu acknowledged that the team struggled in the match against Turkmenistan and praised their performance before adding that they would need to improve in order to advance from the group stage. In their second match against Oman, Japan had several early chances that they failed to convert into goals before earning a penalty in the 28th minute for a tackle on Genki Haraguchi, who scored. The 1–0 win, which came with Oman being denied a penalty for an alleged handball in the first half, saw Japan qualify for the knockout round.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Route to the final, Japan
Moriyasu fielded an entirely new starting lineup, save for forward Koya Kitagawa, for the final group stage match against Uzbekistan. Japan and clinched a first-place finish in Group F through a come-from-behind 2–1 victory over Uzbekistan. After conceding a goal in the 40th minute, Japan responded with a header scored by Yoshinori Muto in the 43rd minute and a long-distance strike by Tsukasa Shiotani in the 58th minute.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Route to the final, Japan
The Samurai Blue faced Saudi Arabia in the round of 16 and played defensively, fielding a lineup similar to their first two group stage matches. Japan advanced with a 1–0 victory over the Saudis on a 20th-minute header scored by Takehiro Tomiyasu and protected the lead against the majority of possession and shots held by the Saudis.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Route to the final, Japan
The quarter-finals marked the debut of the video assistant referee (VAR) system at the Asian Cup and was used in the match between Japan and Vietnam, calling back a goal in the 25th minute for a handball and awarding Japan a penalty kick in the 57th minute, which was scored by Ritsu Doan to give the Samurai Blue a 1–0 win. Moriyasu defended the team's results after receiving criticism over the team's style of play, which relied on one-goal margins in the group stage and knockout rounds to reach the semi-finals.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Route to the final, Japan
Playing in the semi-finals against the top-ranked Iranian team, who had yet to concede a goal, the two teams were kept to a scoreless draw in the first half. Japan made several halftime adjustments to its attack that produced a 3–0 victory and advancement to their fifth Asian Cup final. Yuya Osako netted a brace with a header in the 56th minute and a penalty kick in the 67th minute that was awarded by VAR for a handball; Genki Haraguchi then added a third goal in stoppage time to seal the team's win.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Route to the final, Qatar
Qatar has participated in nine previous editions of the Asian Cup, advancing twice from the group stage in 2000 and 2011 before being eliminated in the quarter-finals. The country was selected to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup and earned a qualification berth, prompting the Qataris to begin preparing the national team for the world stage. Former Barcelona youth coach Félix Sánchez was named the manager of the U-23 and senior national teams in 2017, cultivating an attack-oriented style and utilizing young talents who had emerged since the World Cup announcement.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Route to the final, Qatar
In the second round of the Asian Cup qualification tournament, Qatar placed first with a record of seven wins and one loss—including a 15–0 victory over Bhutan that broke their record for their largest margin of victory. While their performance in the second round qualified them for the Asian Cup, Qatar failed to clinch a berth for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, placing last in its third-round group with seven losses in ten matches.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Route to the final, Qatar
Sánchez called up a young squad, including eleven members aged younger than 22, that was primarily pooled from the domestic league's Al-Sadd and Al-Duhail as well as members of the team who had won the 2014 AFC U-19 Championship under his tenure. In two warm-up friendlies, Qatar earned an upset 1–0 victory over Switzerland and drew 2–2 with Iceland. The team was affected by the ongoing diplomatic dispute between Qatar and a coalition of Middle Eastern and Muslim nations led by Saudi Arabia and including hosts United Arab Emirates, causing them to take indirect flights and being denied access to federation officials and journalists.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Route to the final, Qatar
Qatar were drawn into Group E and opened their Asian Cup campaign against Lebanon, winning 2–0 on second-half goals by center-back Bassam Al-Rawi and forward Almoez Ali. It was the first time that Qatar had won an Asian Cup match hosted in another country. In their second match, facing North Korea in front of an announced attendance of 452 spectators at Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, Qatar won 6–0 with four goals by Ali to reach the knockout round, which became Qatar's largest ever victory in their Asian Cup history. The final group stage match against Saudi Arabia was nicknamed the "Blockade Derby", referencing the land, air, and sea blockade, and was won 2–0 by Qatar with two goals scored by Almoez Ali to top their group comfortably.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Route to the final, Qatar
The team faced Iraq in the round of 16 and won 1–0, with the lone goal of the match coming from a free kick scored by Iraqi-born Bassam Al-Rawi in the 62nd minute. Qatar then played against 2015 runners-up South Korea, which had managed to eliminate Germany in the 2018 FIFA World Cup earlier before, in the quarter-finals and created the biggest shock in the tournament, a 1–0 win on a goal from Abdulaziz Hatem in the 78th minute, setting up a semi-finals match against hosts United Arab Emirates.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Route to the final, Qatar
The semi-final, dubbed the second installment of the "Blockade Derby", was played in front of 38,646 spectators at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, where hostile Emirati supporters threw sandals and water bottles at Qatari players. Boualem Khoukhi scored the opening goal for Qatar in the 22nd minute and was followed by Almoez Ali, who scored his eighth goal of the tournament in the 37th minute and tied the record set by Ali Daei for Iran in 1996.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Route to the final, Qatar
A goal by Hassan Al-Haydos in the 80th minute and substitute Hamid Ismail in stoppage time gave Qatar a 4–0 win to help them reach their first Asian Cup final. Qatar also became the second team to advance to the final without conceding a goal, following South Korea's run in 2015.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Pre-match, Officials
Uzbek referee Ravshan Irmatov was selected to lead the officiating team for the final, which was announced by the AFC on 30 January 2019. He previously officiated at three FIFA World Cups, the 2012 Summer Olympics, FIFA Club World Cup, and the FIFA Confederations Cup. The final is Irmatov's fifth match as referee during the tournament, having officiated two group stage matches and two knockout matches. His compatriots Abdukhamidullo Rasulov and Jakhongir Saidov were chosen as assistant referees, while Chinese referee Ma Ning was the fourth official. Italian Paolo Valeri was named the video assistant referee, presiding over the first use of the technology in the final of the Asian Cup. Muhammad Taqi of Singapore and Chris Beath of Australia were the assistant video assistant referees for the match.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Pre-match, Qatar player eligibility
On 30 January 2019, soon after the hosts lost to Qatar in the semi-finals, the United Arab Emirates Football Association (UAEFA) lodged a formal appeal to the AFC over the eligibility of Sudanese-born striker Almoez Ali and Iraqi-born defender Bassam Al-Rawi, claiming that they did not qualify to play for Qatar. The appeal was filed on residency grounds per Article 7 of the FIFA statutes, which states a player is eligible to play for a representative team if he has "lived continuously for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant association".


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Pre-match, Qatar player eligibility
It was alleged by the UAEFA that Ali and Al-Rawi had not lived continuously in Qatar for at least five years over the age of 18, although the players claimed that their mothers were born in Qatar. On 1 February 2019, hours prior to the final, the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee ruled in favour of Qatar national team and dismissed the protest lodged by the UAEFA.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Match, Summary
The match kicked off at 18:00 local time in Abu Dhabi at Zayed Sports City Stadium, in front of an announced attendance of 36,776 spectators, including several thousand Omanis. Japan began the match with two set piece chances, but neither was able to provide a scoring chance. Qatar's Almoez Ali opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a bicycle kick from 15 yards (14 m) after juggling a ball received from Akram Afif.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Match, Summary
With his ninth goal of the tournament, Ali took the record for most goals scored during an Asian Cup that was previously held by Iranian Ali Daei. Abdulaziz Hatem scored Qatar's next goal in the 27th minute, shooting from 25 yards (75 ft) past Japanese goalkeeper Shūichi Gonda towards the top corner.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Match, Summary
Japan regained possession and found several scoring chances before and after halftime, including a missed header from Yoshinori Muto and several corner kicks, but were unable to produce a shot on goal. Qatar received an early chance to score their third goal in the 56th minute on a counterattack, but the shot by Hatem went over the crossbar. The lead was cut to 2–1 with a 69th-minute goal from close range by Takumi Minamino—the first to be conceded by Qatar during the tournament.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Match, Summary
Qatar were awarded a penalty kick in the 82nd minute by the video assistant referee for a handball by Japanese captain Maya Yoshida, who blocked a shot from a corner kick. The penalty was converted by Akram Afif to give Qatar a 3–1 lead that they kept until the end of the match.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Match, Details
Assistant referees:Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (Uzbekistan)Jakhongir Saidov (Uzbekistan)Fourth official:Ma Ning (China PR)Reserve assistant referee:Huo Weiming (China PR)Video assistant referee:Paolo Valeri (Italy)Assistant video assistant referees:Muhammad Taqi (Singapore)Chris Beath (Australia)


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Post-match
With their victory over Japan, Qatar had earned its first Asian Cup title, having never previously advanced past the quarter-finals, and became the ninth country to win the tournament. The match was Japan's first loss in the tournament after a perfect record of six wins as well as their first loss in an Asian Cup final, having won the previous four final matches. Qatar finished the tournament with a perfect record, winning all seven matches en route to the title. The match also marked the debut of a new match ball and trophy for the Asian Cup, as well as the first use of a video assistant referee during the tournament final.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Post-match
Almoez Ali, who was named the AFC Asian Cup MVP as the best player of the tournament, won the top scorer award after scoring nine of Qatar's 19 goals in the tournament, surpassing the Asian Cup record of eight goals set by Ali Daei of Iran in 1996. Goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb kept six successive clean sheets, winning him the award for best goalkeeper of the tournament, and only conceded one goal during the entire tournament, to Takumi Minamino in the final.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Post-match
Qatar's Akram Afif was selected as the final's man of the match, with one penalty goal and two assists in the match. Overall, he finished the tournament with ten assists, the most of any player. Runners-up Japan won the fair play award as the team with the tournament's best disciplinary record.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Post-match
Qatar and Japan were both invited to also compete in the 2019 Copa América prior to the tournament.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Final, Post-match
According to Qatar-based media outlet Al Jazeera, Emirati newspapers emphasized that Japan lost the final, reflecting the ongoing diplomatic rift between Qatar and the UAE.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A
Group A of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup took place from 5 to 14 January 2019. The group consisted of tournament hosts United Arab Emirates, Thailand, India, and Bahrain. The top two teams, the United Arab Emirates and Thailand, along with the third-placed team, Bahrain (as one of the four best third-placed teams), advanced to the round of 16.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, United Arab Emirates vs Bahrain
With six minutes played, Ali Mabkhout found Ismail Al Hammadi who fired narrowly wide of Bahrain goalkeeper Sayed Shubbar Alawi’s far post. Mabkhout shot over the bar from 15 yards after an Ali Salmeen cross on 23 minutes. In the final moments of the first half, Kamil Al Aswad's free-kick from 25 yards flashed narrowly over the bar. Khalid Eisa then produced a double save to deny Bahrain in the 52nd minute by first palming away Ali Madan’s drive and blocking Mohamed Al Romaihi’s subsequent follow-up.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, United Arab Emirates vs Bahrain
Eight minutes after the hour mark, Bahrain failed to clear the lines at a corner and the ball was eventually deflected into the path of Mabkhout, who shot just wide of the post. On 78 minutes, defender Sayed Redha Isa crossed to Al Romaihi who saw his initial header cleared off the line before ramming home the rebound. Bahrain substitute Mohamed Marhoon, who had only just come on, handled in the area on 88 minutes and Ahmed Khalil having come off the bench for his 100th cap scored the resulting penalty to ensure his side a point.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, United Arab Emirates vs Bahrain
Assistant referees:Ahmad Al-Roalle (Jordan)Mohammad Al-Kalaf (Jordan)Fourth official:Mohammed Al-Abakry (Saudi Arabia)Additional assistant referees:Turki Al-Khudhayr (Saudi Arabia)Ahmed Al-Ali (Jordan)


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, Thailand vs India
Thailand threatened first with captain Teerasil Dangda finding Thitipan Puangchan who shot an 11th minute drive which sailed narrowly wide of India goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu’s right-hand post. Ashique Kuruniyan’s shot was saved by Chatchai Budprom, only for defender Theerathon Bunmathan to concede a penalty when he handled the subsequent rebound. Sunil Chhetri converted the resulting penalty to give India the lead in the 27th minute. Thailand were, however, to draw level just six minutes later, Teerasil heading home Theerathon’s delivered set-piece.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, Thailand vs India
Moments after the restart, Kuruniyan and Udanta Singh combined to set up Chhetri who fired home past Chatchai from 15 yards to restore his side’s advantage. In the 68th minute Udanta charged towards the goal before laying the ball back to Anirudh Thapa, who dinked the ball past both Chatchai and a recovering defender into the back of the net. With time running out, Thailand rallied briefly when Teerasil saw a goal-bound effort diverted to safety via the outstretched leg of the defender Anas Edathodika. With 10 minutes remaining, substitute Jeje Lalpekhlua scored a curling strike from the edge of the area.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, Thailand vs India
This became India's biggest ever win in their Asian Cup history, while it was also India's first ever win after 55 years. This hammered defeat to India prompted the FAT to sack Milovan Rajevac and appointed Sirisak Yodyardthai as interim coach. Sunil Chhetri passed beyond Lionel Messi to become the second-best scoring players still in active, behind Cristiano Ronaldo.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, Thailand vs India
Assistant referees:Huo Weiming (China PR)Cao Yi (China PR)Fourth official:Ronnie Koh Min Kiat (Singapore)Additional assistant referees:Ma Ning (China PR)Fu Ming (China PR)


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, Bahrain vs Thailand
Thailand came close in the 20th minute when captain Teerasil Dangda’s effort was blocked by Bahrain goalkeeper Sayed Shubbar Alawi. Bahrain had their chances too as they kept Thai goalkeeper Siwarak Tedsungnoen busy, with the custodian pulling off a double-save against Mohamed Marhoon and Sayed Dhiya Saeed in the 28th minute. Bahrain had a glimpse at goal four minutes from the end of the half with Marhoon sending in a cross but Mohamed Al Romaihi failed to keep his header down. In the 58th minute Tristan Do launched a cross into the Bahrain penalty box. The ball was deflected by Ahmed Juma but a surging Chanathip Songkrasin sent a left-footed shot past Alawi to give Thailand the advantage. Thailand came close to doubling their lead when Chanathip's pass found Adisak Kraisorn but his effort was denied by the upright in the 71st minute.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, Bahrain vs Thailand
Assistant referees:Matthew Cream (Australia)Anton Shchetinin (Australia)Fourth official:Sergei Grishchenko (Kyrgyzstan)Additional assistant referees:Peter Green (Australia)Ryuji Sato (Japan)


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, India vs United Arab Emirates
India had the game's first chance when Ashique Kuruniyan darted into the area before unleashing a drive which forced goalkeeper Khalid Eisa into a fine save on 11 minutes. Eisa was called into action once again in the 23rd minute, this time reacting to repel a Sunil Chhetri header. Five minutes before half-time, Anas Edathodika made a mess of it and allowed Ali Mabkhout to set up Khalfan Mubarak to fire home past Indian custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, India vs United Arab Emirates
In the final moments of the first period, Chhetri came within inches of drawing his side level, but his effort fizzed just wide of Eisa's far post. After the break, India substitute Jeje Lalpekhlua thumped a shot narrowly off target and then Udanta Singh rattled the UAE bar with a drive from a narrow angle. Ismail Al Hammadi’s 74th minute shot cannoned of a post and then Sandhu before rebounding to safety. The UAE duly doubled their advantage in the final moments when Mabkhout converted Ali Salmeen’s pass to assure his side of the victory despite Mohamed Ahmed crashing the ball against his own woodwork deep into stoppage time.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, India vs United Arab Emirates
Assistant referees:Miguel Hernández (Mexico)Alberto Morín (Mexico)Fourth official:Rashid Al-Ghaithi (Oman)Additional assistant referees:Jumpei Iida (Japan)Hiroyuki Kimura (Japan)


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, United Arab Emirates vs Thailand
Hosts the United Arab Emirates and Thailand both booked their places in the knockout stage as a 1–1 draw at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium was enough to ensure both nations progressed. Ali Mabkhout put Alberto Zaccheroni’s side ahead after seven minutes but Thitiphan Puangjan struck four minutes from time to earn the Thais a point that sees them take second place in Group A, following India’s late loss to Bahrain, thanks to a better head-to-head record. The hosts made the perfect start when, with many in the crowd of almost 18,000 still finding their seats, they hit the back of Siwarak Tedsungnoen’s goal.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, United Arab Emirates vs Thailand
Ismail Al Hammadi burst into the area and attempted to clip the ball over the Thai keeper, only for the ball to come back off the crossbar. But Mabkhout rose to head home the rebound from inside the six-yard box. Khalfan Mubarak sought to double the lead 11 minutes later when he twisted his way past the Thai defence only to send a weak shot trundling through to Siwarak.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, United Arab Emirates vs Thailand
While the UAE have qualified for the knockout phase for the second tournament in a row, Thailand will be featuring in the next round for the first time since reaching the semi-finals in 1972.


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, United Arab Emirates vs Thailand
Assistant referees:Hiroshi Yamauchi (Japan)Jun Mihara (Japan)Fourth official:Mohd Yusri Muhamad (Malaysia)Additional assistant referees:Jumpei Iida (Japan)Hiroyuki Kimura (Japan)


2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A, Matches, India vs Bahrain
Jamal Rashid's penalty in added time secured Bahrain a 1–0 win over India, taking them into the knockout stage for the first time since 2004 edition. With United Arab Emirates and Thailand playing to a 1–1 draw, Bahrain finished third in Group A with their haul of four points confirming them as one of the best four third-placed teams who will advance to the Round of 16.