The 1972 final was notable as it was the first Asian Cup to use the group stage-knockout phase format, which was followed in the subsequent tournaments with some alternation.

[8] Saudi Arabia, after an initial poor start, began to emerge as the country qualified, then won two consecutive Asian trophies in 1984 and 1988, overcoming both China and South Korea.

However, as Japan started to make a concrete move inroad to professional football, the country's fortunes increased.

Japan hosted the 1992 AFC Asian Cup, which was reduced to eight teams and two groups, where it emerged victorious after beating Saudi Arabia, then-defending champions, 1–0, to win the country's first major international honour.

[14] Japan would go on to retain their Asian trophy four years later, albeit in a more struggling style and a very heated, politically charged final toward hosts China.

[15] The 2004 edition was notable as it expanded to 16 teams, and marked Saudi Arabia's absence from an Asian Cup final for the first time.

[16][17] In this tournament, Iraq was crowned as Asian champions despite the ravaging American invasion, overpowering the likes of Australia, South Korea and Saudi Arabia in the process.

[19] Still, the tournament was notable as the first Asian Cup to use the jersey numbers' order from 1 to 23, previously not practised in prior competitions.

[24] The tournament, hosted by the United Arab Emirates for the second time, witnessed the rise of Qatar, who conquered its first ever Asian title after beating Japan in the final 3–1.

[25] The tournament was marred by the Qatar diplomatic crisis, due to the UAE's entry ban on Qatari supporters, as well as shoe-throwing in the two teams' semi-final clash.

[29] Until the 2000 tournament, the black base contained plaques engraved with names of every winning country, as well as the edition won.

[32] During the draw for the 2019 group stage on 4 May 2018 at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, an all-new trophy, made by London Silversmiths Thomas Lyte, was unveiled.

Since 2019, no third place play-off has been played; from 2023, losing semi-finalists are ranked by the AFC based on goal difference in the semi-finals.

There are currently five post-tournament awards: Despite being the second oldest continental football tournament, the AFC Asian Cup has suffered numerous criticisms.

At the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, there had been concerns over low record of crowds due to little football interests and high costs of traveling between Asian nations leading to then-Australia coach Holger Osieck claiming that the Qatar Armed Forces were used to fill up the stadiums simply for aesthetics, while Australia international Brett Holman commented, "Worldwide it's not recognized as a good tournament".

The country is set to become the first in the Middle East to host the world's biggest sporting event, triumphing over strong competition from the United States and Australia.

Approximately 5 billion people were involved in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, as they followed tournament content through various platforms and devices in the media universe.