With the Summer Olympic Games and the European Football Championship also held in the same year as the Asian Cup, the AFC changed their tradition.

For the first time, the seeds are based on the October 2006 FIFA World Rankings instead of the basis of the performance from the previous AFC Asian Cup competition.

The result caused Japan's coach Ivica Osim to fly into a rage in which he branded his players as 'amateurs' and reduced his interpreter to tears.

However, Australia's 4–0 demolition of Thailand at the last match day saw them move on to the quarter-finals, as Oman was unable to overcome Iraq in a goalless draw.

Vietnam continued to stun all predictions when they drew 1-1 with 2006 ASIAD champions Qatar, while Japan finally got their first win when they thrashed the UAE 3–1.

China's shocking elimination occurred when they were hammered 0–3 by the Uzbeks, despite having drawn 2–2 with Iran and was expected to qualify from group stage with an easy win.

Bahrain shocked the whole tournament by defeating South Korea 2–1 in Group D, leaving the Koreans on the verge of elimination when Indonesia was beaten 1–2 by Saudi Arabia.

However, South Korea secured a 1–0 win over hosts Indonesia and with Saudi Arabia destroying Bahrain 4–0, it was enough for the Koreans to qualify to the quarter-finals.

[7] In the other semi-finals, Saudi Arabia eliminated defending champions Japan after a 3–2 win to make the final match an all-Arab affair.

Iraq, Saudi Arabia and South Korea, as the top three teams in the tournament, all received automatic berths to the 2011 Asian Cup along with the next hosts Qatar.

[9][10] Lee Woon-jae Bassim Abbas Yuji Nakazawa Rahman Rezaei Lucas Neill Shunsuke Nakamura Harry Kewell Lee Chun-soo Nashat Akram Naohiro Takahara Yasser Al-Qahtani The Official Match Ball for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup was launched by Nike on 15 May 2007, making it the first time ever that a ball had been launched specifically for any football competition in Asia.

[11] The Nike Mercurial Veloci AC features four blue stripes with gold trim with each host city's name inscribed, as well as the AFC Asian Cup logo.