Japan will be one of the favourites to win the AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.\u00a0Federico Gambarini\/picture alliance via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Japan<\/a> will face two-time defending champions Qatar<\/a> in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup<\/a> in Saudi Arabia, after the draw in Riyadh on Saturday.<\/p>\n Qatar were drawn \u200balongside Japan in Group F, in a \u200brepeat of the 2019 final in the United Arab Emirates, which the Qataris won before retaining the title at the 2023 edition on home soil.<\/p>\n Group F is rounded out by South East Asian teams Thailand<\/a> and Indonesia<\/a>.<\/p>\n Japan are the most successful team in men’s AFC Asian Cup history, winning a record four titles (1992, 2000, 2004, 2011) and finishing runners-up in 2019.<\/p>\n Saudi Arabia<\/a>, the host team, feature in an all-Arab Group \u200bA, alongside Kuwait<\/a>, Oman<\/a> and Palestine<\/a>, while South \u200bKorea<\/a> will face United Arab Emirates<\/a>, Vietnam<\/a> and \u200bLebanon<\/a> or Yemen<\/a> in Group E.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks Australia<\/a> were drawn alongside Tajikistan<\/a>, Iraq<\/a> and Singapore<\/a> in Group D, with the fixture against Iraq, their fellow FIFA World Cup<\/a> qualifiers now led by for former Socceroos coach Graham Arnold, likely to be one of the feature games of the group stage.<\/p>\n The draw had been set for April 11, but it \u200bwas postponed because of the Middle East \u200bconflict to ensure full attendance and participation from \u2060all concerned parties, national associations and partners.<\/p>\n Saudi is hosting the tournament for the first time, and it will run from Jan. 7 to Feb. \u200b5, 2027.<\/p>\n Full AFC Asian Cup 2027 draw:<\/p>\n Group A: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Palestine<\/p>\n Group B: Uzbekistan<\/a>, Bahrain<\/a>, North Korea<\/a>, Jordan<\/a><\/p>\n Group C: Iran<\/a>, Syria<\/a>, Kyrgyz Republic<\/a>, China<\/a><\/p>\n Group D: Australia, Tajikistan, Iraq, Singapore<\/p>\n Group E: South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Lebanon or Yemen<\/p>\n Group F: Japan, Qatar, Thailand, Indonesia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan will be one of the favourites to win the AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.\u00a0Federico Gambarini\/picture alliance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8],"class_list":{"0":"post-19995","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-japan","8":"tag-japan"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778433640_998_r1656040_1296x1296_1-1.jpg&w=130&h=130&scale=crop&location=center.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n