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The Asian Football Confederation's 2007 AFC Asian Cup finals were held from 7 July to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its history, the competition was co-hosted by four nations: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The tournament was won by first-time champions Iraq, who defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the final. As the winner, Iraq represented the AFC at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. The Asian Cup had previously been held every 4 years from 1956 onwards, the last cup being held in China in 2004. However, with the Summer Olympic Games and the European Football Championship also held in the same year as the Asian Cup (2004, 2008, 2012 etc.), the AFC decided to change their tradition and hold the tournament in 2007, and every four years henceforth from that date. An estimated worldwide television audience of 650 million people tuned in to watch the 2007 AFC Asian Cup.〔http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/asian-cup/news/1015189/Cities-fight-for-Asian-Cup-motza〕 This was the first major AFC tournament in which Australia participated as a member. ==Host selection== The decision to have four host nations for this edition of the Asian Cup was proposed and presented to the executive committee by AFC president Mohammed Bin Hammam. However, he later regretted this decision and called it his "mistake", citing the financial and logistic difficulties in organising an event across four countries. He said that "It is proving very difficult for (executive committee as they ) have to have four organising committees, four media centres and there are also financial considerations." He also revealed that "(would ) definitely (do ) it ()", if he had the choice. In June 2005, the Asian Football Confederation warned Thailand that it needed to improve its facilities before 2007, otherwise it would be dropped, possibly being replaced with Singapore. On August 12 of the same year, the AFC confirmed that Thailand would be a co-host of the 2007 Asian Cup.〔 〕 However in October 2006, Thailand was again warned to improve its facilities in 90 days. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2007 AFC Asian Cup」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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