The EAFF East Asian Cup, the war between Asia's most prominent nations in football, is publically about 10 years old. That is because the East Asian Football Federation(EAFF) competition held in December 2003, Japan is officially the starting year for the Cup. However, the Dynasty Cup, which was a precedent of the EAFF East Asian Cup, should also be included as part of its history.
The first Dynasty Cup was held in 1990 in Beijing, and a total of four competitions followed every two or three years, in China, Hong Kong and Japan. The Asian football giant Korea Republic became the first champion of the Dynasty Cup, and the three following championships were won by the newly-risen Japanese team.

After the EAFF was founded to promote football and active exchange in East Asia, the EAFF East Asian Cup consolidated its position as a prominent international football championship. The championship, which was originally open only to Korea Republic, China, Japan, DPR Korea and Hong Kong, was later extended to other teams from such as Taiwan, Guam, Macao, Mongolia and North Mariana Islands. It has contributed greatly to the quality of the competition, and to accommodate the new competitors, regional preliminaries began to be held. Since its start in 2003, the EAFF East Asian Cup is being held biennially under solid support from its member states. Women's football competition was added in 2005, making the EAFF East Asian Cup a festival for both women and men's football.

In men's football, the teams that have won the most cups are Korea Republic and the defending champion China, the former of which holds this years' EAFF East Asian Cup. The Korea Republic team won in the very first championship in the 2003 Tokyo-Saitama-Yokohama EAFF East Asian Cup, and obtained its second champion title in Chongqing, 2008. China topped the competition in 2005 when the matches were held in the Korea Republic cities Daejeon, Jeonju and Daegu. China's second cup was won in Tokyo, 2010. It is quite surprising that Japan has not yet won any the Championships, whereas it has excelled in Asian Football Confederation(AFC)'s Asian Cup, winning the highest number of championships at four cups.

In the women's football competitions, however, the world class skills of Japanese football are clearly witnessed. Japan has beaten its way to the top twice in a row in Yongchuan, 2008 and Tokyo, 2010. The Japanese team impressively scored six victories in a total of six matches in both competitions. The first champion was Korea Republic. Korea Republic won unexpected victories against China and DPR Korea which were then the leading nations in Asian football.

This Year's 2013 Asian Cup will be held in Seoul and Hwaseong, Korea Republic from 20th to 28th July. The most notable part of this year's competition is that Australia, which some call Oceania's most powerful football team, will be making its debut as a guest team. Although it participates as a guest team, Australia has won its way up from the regional preliminaries, and is therefore well expected to fight a worthwhile match with the East Asian teams. The Australian team's participation is a highly notable event as it indicates the growth of the competition in terms of quality.