The tournament was marked by Saudi Arabia's unexpected failure to even make it out of the first round; a surprisingly good performance by Bahrain, which finished in fourth place; Jordan, which reached the quarterfinals in its first appearance and Indonesia, which gained their historical first Asian Cup win against Qatar.

The final match between China and Japan was marked by post-match rioting by Chinese fans near the north gate of Beijing Workers' Stadium, in part due to controversial officiating and anti-Japanese sentiment resulting from historical tensions.

Notes: China Japan South Korea Saudi Arabia Iran Iraq Kuwait Qatar Indonesia Thailand United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Bahrain Jordan Oman Turkmenistan This competition saw a huge number of surprises.

The outcome frustrated many Chinese supporters, who ended up rioting outside Workers' Stadium over referee's controversial decision allowing the handball goal of Koji Nakata.

Most Valuable Player Top Scorer Fair-Play Award Team of the Tournament[3][4] Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi Tsuneyasu Miyamoto Zheng Zhi Yuji Nakazawa Mehdi Mahdavikia Zhao Junzhe Shunsuke Nakamura Talal Yousef Shao Jiayi Ali Karimi A'ala Hubail The official match ball for the tournament was the Adidas Roteiro.

[6][7] Like other sports events, the Asian Cup 2004 was publicised as evidence of China's economic and athletic progress, being referred to by some as a prelude to the 2008 Summer Olympics.

However, the Japanese media and many other international observers have pointed out bad manners on the part of Chinese fans, and sparse attendance at the tournament, raising questions on China's ability to hold such sporting events.

Throughout the tournament, most Chinese fans in the stadia expressed anti-Japanese sentiments by drowning out the Japanese national anthem, displaying political banners and booing whenever Japan got the ball, regardless of the score or opponent.