Japan and Qatar will play in Abu Dhabi. The fifth Asian Cup Final for Hajime Moriyasu's side - and they have won the previous four they were in - while Spanish manager Felix Sànchez takes Qatar into their debut final.

After making it out of Group F with three wins out of three (Uzbekistan, Oman, Turkmenistan), Japan overcame Saudi Arabia in the round of the last 16 with just a single goal scored as well as in the quarter-final against Vietnam and then a clinical performance saw them put three goals past a very decent Iran side.

Qatar also dropped no points in their group, leaving behind Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and North Korea with a +10 goal difference. Then came a 1-0 victory over Iraq and South Korea in the quarters. Almost mirroring their final opponents, a well-deserved 4-0 win over hosts UAE gave them a chance to make history.