The national football team departed for the United Arab Emirates to begin preparations for the 2023 Asian Cup, which also marked the official opening of the Asian Cup. This Asian Cup has attracted much attention because it is not only the most expensive in history, but also has a huge impact on the five major leagues. In the upcoming Asian Cup, there will be four players worth more than 50 million euros, including Kim Min-jae, Son Heung-min, Kaoru Mikasa and Kubo Kenei.
The 22 Asian players are worth more than 10 million euros, including 15 from Japan, four from South Korea, two from Iran and one from Australia. They will be one of the highlights of the Asian Cup. Of those, 17 players play in the top five leagues, while 22 Asian players are worth more than €1 million in the top five leagues. This does not include the Asian Cup internationals in Europe's second-rate leagues, such as the Portuguese Super League, the Eredivisie, the Soviet Super League, the Belgian League, etc.
The United Kingdom has begun to discuss the impact of the Asian Cup on Premier League clubs, especially in January next year, players such as Mikasa, Son Heung-min, Tomiyasu Kenhiro, Huang Xican, and Endo will leave the team, which will bring trouble to Premier League teams with tight schedules.
It is worth mentioning that compared to the Asian Cup in the UAE four years ago, when there were only 14 players playing in the top five leagues, now there are 22 players. This marks the improvement of the influence and competitive level of Asian players in international football.
The Japanese team is worth almost 300 million euros, with 13 players worth more than 10 million euros, and Kenei Kubo and Kaoru Mikasa reaching 50 million euros. Also worth more than 20 million euros are Daichi Kamada, Kenhiro Tomiyasu and Hiroki Ito. Compared with other Asian countries, Japan has an absolute advantage in terms of the number of players in Europe and the value of their players.
Iran also has Taremi and Azmoun, two stars worth more than 10 million euros, and the total value of the team is more than 50 million. In Australia, the highest value is Leicester City defender Soutar (12 million euros), with a total value of more than 36 million. Uzbekistan is also worth more than 30 million euros because of its Serie A player Shomurodov.
Relatively speaking, the national football team is worth about 11 million euros, which is only 1 18 for the South Korean team and 1 30 for the Japanese team, and there is a significant gap compared with other football powers in Asia. The national football team ranks 10th in terms of national team value in the Asian Cup, only ahead of Jordan, Iraq, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Compared with four years ago, the total value of the national football team has decreased slightly, while the value of other Asian countries has skyrocketed, widening the gap between them.
In terms of odds to win the Asian Cup, Japan itself has the highest price, becoming the top of the list, followed by hosts Qatar, Australia and Iran. South Korea and Saudi Arabia hired two famous coaches, Jurgen Klinsmann and Roberto Mancini, shouting the slogan of winning the championship, and formed the first group of favorites with the other four teams. Surprisingly, the national football team ranks 7th in the odds of winning the championship, slightly ahead of the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Uzbekistan.
Looking back at the 2019 Asian Cup, South Korea had the highest odds to win the tournament at that time, followed by Iran and Japan, while the national football team tied with Qatar for 9th. However, Qatar eventually won the championship in an upset. And this year, Qatar may be more difficult to defend its title because of the temporary change of coach before the game.
The Asian Cup will be a feast for players from the five major leagues, and it will also be a concentrated test of the competitive level of Asian football. The value and performance of each team will be the focus of attention of fans and **. We look forward to this Asian Cup presenting us with more exciting games and wonderful moments.