Host country Lebanon Champions Japan (2nd title) Fourth place China PR Top scorer Lee Dong-gook Best player Hiroshi Nanami | Venue(s) 3 (in 3 host cities) Runners-up Saudi Arabia Matches played 26 Dates 12 Oct 2000 – 29 Oct 2000 Teams 12 | |
 | ||
Champion Japan national football team Third place South Korea national football team Similar 2004 AFC Asian Cup, 1996 AFC Asian Cup, 1992 AFC Asian Cup, 1988 AFC Asian Cup, 1980 AFC Asian Cup | ||
The Asian Football Confederation's 2000 AFC Asian Cup finals were held in Lebanon between 12 and 29 October. Japan defeated defending champion Saudi Arabia in the final match in Beirut.
Contents
Qualification
42 teams participated in a preliminary tournament. It was divided into 10 groups and the first-placed team of each group thus qualified. A total of 84 games were held, starting with the Oman versus Kyrgyzstan game on 3 August 1999.
The other 10 qualifying teams were:
First round
All times are Lebanon summer time (UTC+3).
Third-placed qualifiers
At the end of the first stage, a comparison was made between the third placed teams of each group. The two best third-placed teams advanced to the quarter-finals.
Korea Republic (best third-place) and Qatar (second best third-place) qualified for the quarter-finals.
Knockout stage
All times are Lebanon summer time (UTC+3)
Extra times were played under the golden goal rule.
MVP (Most Valuable Player)
Top Scorer
Best Defender
Best Goalkeeper
Fair-Play Award
Goalscorers
With six goals, Lee Dong-Gook is the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 77 goals were scored by 43 different players, with two of them credited as own goals.