Indonesia are the winners of the inaugural AFC eAsian Cup carried out through the title of eFootball 2024. The tournament, which began on February 1st and concluded on 5th, saw 19 teams compete to become the Champions of Asia.
Indonesia showcased exceptional skill and determination to beat Japan in the finals played in Doha’s Virtuocity eSports Arena in Qatar. The engrossing final saw more than 200,000 viewers tuning in.
The AFC eAsian Cup was the esports version of the ongoing Asian Cup which started on January 12th and will come to an end this Saturday, February 10th.
INDONESIA WIN THE INAUGURAL AFC eASIAN CUP 🇮🇩🏆 pic.twitter.com/3ZPauarkMT
— FIFAe (@FIFAe) February 5, 2024
How Things Unfolded in the Group Stage
The continental tournament kicked off last Thursday with 20 teams split into six groups. However, Hong Kong withdrew on Day 1 and the tournament had to continue with the remaining 19 teams. Below are the groups for the AFC eAsian Cup:
- Group A: Qatar, Tajikistan and Lebanon
- Group B: Uzbekistan, Syria and India
- Group C: Iran, UAE and Hong Kong (Withdrew on Day 1)
- Group D: Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam
- Group E: Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Jordan, Bahrain
- Group F: Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan and Oman.
After two days of intense competition in the group stage, Oman, Malaysia and Kyrgyzstan were eliminated from the tournament.
The highlight of the group stage was Iran thumping UAE 8-1 in the first game to record the biggest number of goals in the tournament and Saudi Arabia emerging as the leading scorers with 20 goals. Kyrgyzstan were the only team to lose all their games.
Knockout Stage
The knockout stage of the tournament was played in a best-of-3 format, offering teams the opportunity to equalize and overturn outcome of matches.
The first semi-final fixture of the AFC eAsian Cup took place between Indonesia and Thailand. The eventual champions of the tournament Indonesia won the first two games to progress to the finals without having to force a decider.
In the other semi-final clash, Japan beat Saudi Arabia in straight matches. Saudi Arabia had numerous opportunities to force a decider in the second game but squandered them before conceding in the 80th minute.
The Final
A highly awaited final saw Indonesia and Japan clash for the inaugural eAsian Cup on Monday. Indonesia won the first match through penalty shootouts after the game ended 1-1 in regular time and had no goals in extra time.
In the second game, Indonesia capitalized on a free-kick in the 100th minute to clinch victory and become the first ever champions of the AFC eAsian Cup.
Same vibes ✨🇮🇩 pic.twitter.com/yXLztevXhh
— FIFAe (@FIFAe) February 7, 2024
The tournament registered a record number of viewers, with the semi-final and final having more than 3 million views on YouTube. These figures are high compared to FC Pro Open Final, which registered 367k views since its streaming last Saturday.
