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Asian Football Confederation
Asian Football Confederation
	; AFC members
Motto	"The Future is Asia"
Formation	8 May 1954
Type	Sports organization
Headquarters	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Membership	46 member associations (from 4 regional federations)
President	Mohammed Bin Hammam
Website	www.the-afc.com

The 46 member Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of football in Asia, excluding Cyprus and Israel, and (since 2006) including Australia.

The AFC was founded on 8 May 1954 in Manila, Philippines, and is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. (Nations with both European and Asian territory, such as Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and Russia, are instead covered by UEFA; Cyprus and Israel, which lie entirely in Asia, are also UEFA members.) The main headquarters is located in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The current president is Mohammed Bin Hammam of Qatar.

[edit] AFC competitions

The AFC runs the Asian Cup, a competition for the national football teams of Asia held every four years, as well as the Asian World Cup Qualifying Tournament and the AFC Challenge Cup. It also runs the Asian Olympics Qualifying Tournament. The AFC also runs three levels of annual international club competitions. The most prestigious (and oldest of the current AFC club competitions) is the AFC Champions League tournament, based on the UEFA Champions League, formed in 2002/03 with the amalgamation of the Asian Champions Cup and the Asian Cup Winners Cup. (An Asian Super Cup competition between the winners of these two major tournaments ended with the birth of the AFC Champions League.) The other competitions branched off this in 2004 when the 'Vision Asia' blueprint for development was launched. This led to the top fourteen AFC nations, the 'mature nations', sending their best teams to the AFC Champions League. The next 14 nations, the 'developing nations' qualify to send their teams to the AFC Cup.

The rest of the AFC-affiliated countries, the 'emerging nations' send their teams to the AFC President's Cup. The teams which qualify from each country are usually the champions and the cup winners.^[1] Currently there is no promotion and relegation between the different levels of nations.

The AFC is going to revamp 22 leagues in Asia, 10 of them by 2009-2012. This is due to the poor performance / absence of Asian teams in the 2006 World Cup. The reforms include: increasing transparency, increase competitiveness, improving training facilities and forcing the leagues to have a system of relegation and promotion.^[2]

The 10 leagues marked for reform are: Australia, Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore, India, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The proposal would mark a radical change in Australia, where professional leagues in all sports are organised on a model of franchised teams and closed league membership, a system most commonly identified with North America.

There are 12 AFC Nations that play in the UAFA organised Arab Nations Cup. These nations are Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

[edit] Women's football in Asia

The Asian Ladies Football Confederation (ALFC) is the section of the AFC who manage women's football in Asia. The group was independently founded in April 1968 in a meeting involving Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. In 1986 the ALFC merged with the AFC.^[3] The Asian Ladies Football Confederation helped organise the AFC Women's Asian Cup, first held in 1975, as well as the AFC's AFC U-19 Women's Championship and the AFC U-17 Women's Championship.

[edit] Regions

The AFC is split into four regions.^[4] Below shows how the national teams of Asia are split up by region (but are not necessarily part of their regional football federation). As a rule, because of cultural restrictions, only the ASEAN and East Asian regions field equivalent women's teams.

AFC & SAFF Members

AFC & CAFF Members

[edit] Competitions

[edit] AFC tournaments

[edit] Regional tournaments

ASEAN: ASEAN Football Championship (formerly known as the Tiger Cup prior to 2007)-
Central Asia: Officially only 4 countries in this region (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan left for UEFA). No official tournament held between countries in this region.
East Asia: East Asian Cup
South Asia: South Asian Football Federation Cup
West Asia: West Asian Football Federation Championship (Although not all West Asian Countries enter), Gulf Cup of Nations

[edit] AFC Countries Members National League Ranking

P	National League	Grades
1	Japan J. League	Grade A
2	South Korea K-League	Grade B
3	China Chinese Super League	Grade B
4	Saudi Premier League	Grade B
5	UAE Football League	Grade B
6	Australian A-League	Grade B
7	Iran Pro League	Grade B
8	Indonesian Super League	Grade B
9	Uzbek League	Grade C
10	Qatar Stars League	Grade C
11	Singapore S. League	Grade C
12	Thai Premier League	Grade C
13	Indian I-League	Grade C
14	Vietnam V-League	Grade C
15	Pakistan Premier League	Grade C
16	Syrian Premier League	Grade C
17	Jordan League	Grade D
18	Kuwaiti Premier League	Grade D
19	Malaysia M-League	Grade D
20	Hong Kong First Division League	Grade D
21	Oman Omani League	Grade D
22	Bahrain Bahraini Premier League	Grade D
23	Turkmenistan Higher League	Grade D

	East Asia
	West Asia

[edit] Awards

[edit] Asian Footballer of the Year

The Asian Footballer of the Year award is presented to the best football player from Asia. Officially awarded since 1994. The official name is Asian Football Confederation's Sanyo Player of the Year Award. Prior to 1994 it was awarded on an unofficial basis. The winners from 1988 to 1991 were chosen by IFFHS.

Year	Footballer	Nation	Club
1988	Ahmed Radhi	Iraq	Al-Rasheed
1989	Kim Joo-Sung	Korea Republic	Daewoo Royals
1990	Kim Joo-Sung	Korea Republic	Daewoo Royals
1991	Kim Joo-Sung	Korea Republic	Daewoo Royals
1992		No award
1993	Kazuyoshi Miura	Japan	Verdy Kawasaki
1994	Saeed Owairan	Saudi Arabia	Al-Shabab
1995	Masami Ihara	Japan	Yokohama Marinos
1996	Khodadad Azizi	Iran	Bahman
1997	Hidetoshi Nakata	Japan	Bellmare Hiratsuka
1998	Hidetoshi Nakata	Japan	Perugia
1999	Ali Daei	Iran	Hertha Berlin
2000	Nawaf Al Temyat	Saudi Arabia	Al-Hilal
2001	Fan Zhiyi	China PR	Dundee
2002	Shinji Ono	Japan	Feyenoord
2003	Mehdi Mahdavikia	Iran	Hamburger SV
2004	Ali Karimi	Iran	Al-Ahli
2005	Hamad Al-Montashari	Saudi Arabia	Al-Ittihad
2006	Khalfan Ibrahim	Qatar	Al-Sadd
2007	Yasser Al-Qahtani	Saudi Arabia	Al-Hilal
2008	Server Djeparov	Uzbekistan	FC Bunyodkor

Wins By Country

Nation	Winners
Japan	5
Saudi Arabia	4
Iran	4
Korea Republic	3
Uzbekistan	1
China PR	1
Iraq	1
Qatar	1

[edit] Asian Young Footballer of the Year

The Asian Young Footballer of the Year award is presented to the best young football player from Asia. Officially awarded since 1995.

Year	Footballer	Nation	Club	Remarks
1995	Mohammed Al-Kathiri	Oman		Man
1996	Bamrung Boonprom	Thailand	Bangkok Bank	Man
1997	Mehdi Mahdavikia	Iran	Persepolis	Man
1998	Shinji Ono	Japan	Urawa Red Diamonds	Man
1999	Waleed Hamzah	Qatar	Al-Arabi	Man
2000	Ryoichi Maeda	Japan	Jubilo Iwata	Man
2001	Du Wei	China	Shanghai Shenhua	Man
2002	Lee Chun-Soo	South Korea	Ulsan Tigers	Man
2003	Yoshito Okubo	Japan	Cerezo Osaka	Man
2004	Park Chu-Young	South Korea	Korea University	Man
2005	Choe Myong-Ho	North Korea	Kyonggongop	Man
2006	Ma Xiaoxu	China	Dalian Shide	Woman
2007	Kim Kum-Il	North Korea	April 25 Sports Group	Man
2008	Ahmad Khalil	United Arab Emirates	Al-Ahli	Men's Winners
2008	Mana Iwabuchi	Japan	NTV Beleza	Women's Winners

[edit] AFC Coach of the Year

Year	Name	Team
1994	Charnwit Polcheewin	Thai Farmers Bank FC
1995	Park Jong hwan	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
1996	Ma Yuanan	China women's national football team
1997	Cha Bum Kun	Korea Republic national team
1998	Takashi Kuwahara	Júbilo Iwata
1999	Mahmoud Rakhimov
2000	Philippe Troussier	Japan national team
2001	Nasser Al-Johar	Saudi Arabia national team
2002	Guus Hiddink	Korea Republic national team
2003	Cha Kyung-Bok	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
2004	Adnan Hamad	Iraq national team
2005	No award
2006	Choe Kwang-Sok	Korea DPR women's U-20 national team
2007	Rauf Inileyev	Uzbekistan national team
2008	Akira Nishino	Gamba Osaka

[edit] AFC Women's Player of the Year

Year	Name	Nation
2004	Homare Sawa	Japan
2005	Natsuko Hara	Japan
2006	Ma Xiaoxu	China PR
2007	Ri Kum Suk	Korea DPR
2008	Homare Sawa	Japan

[edit] Summer Olympics qualifiers

(Note: Where applicable, numbers refer to the number of teams from each country)

[edit] Men

Nation	1900	1904	1908	1912	1920	1924	1928	1936	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	Total
Japan								•			•		•	•							•	•	•	•	8
South Korea									•				•						•	•	•	•	•	•	8
Australia											•								•	•	•	•	•	•	7
India									•	•	•	•													4
Iraq																	•	•	•				•		4
Chinese Taipei								•	•			•													3
Iran													•		•	•									3
Kuwait																	•			•		•			3
China																			•					•	2
Israel														•		•									2
Qatar																		•		•					2
Saudi Arabia																		•			•				2
Thailand											•			•											2
Afghanistan									•																1
Burma															•										1
Indonesia											•														1
Malaysia															•										1
North Korea																•									1
Syria																	•								1
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	1	5	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	56

[edit] Women

Nation	1996	2000	2004	2008	Total
China	•	•	•	•	4
Japan	•		•	•	3
North Korea				•	1
Total	2	1	2	3	8

[edit] World Cup qualifiers

The following table shows the AFC representatives at each edition of the FIFA World Cup, sorted by number of appearances.

Team	1930	1934	1938	1950	1954	1958	1962	1966	1970	1974	1978	1982	1986	1990	1994	1998	2002	2006	2010	Total
Korea Republic					R1								R1	R1	R1	R1	4th	R1	•	8
Japan																R1	R2	R1	•	4
Saudi Arabia															R2	R1	R1	R1		4
Australia¹										R1								R2	•	3
Iran											R1					R1		R1		3
Korea DPR								QF											•	2
China PR																	R1			1
India				•																1
Indonesia			R1																	1
Iraq													R1							1
Kuwait												R1								1
United Arab Emirates														R1						1
Israel²									R1											1
Total	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	4	4	5	4	30

¹Australia qualified in 2006 under the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). From 1972 to 1978 they were not a member of any confederation.

²Israel is now a member of UEFA.

1930 – None
1934 – None
1938 – Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia)
1950 – India (however it withdrew from the World Cup after qualifying due to lack of funding for equipment and FIFA would not let them play barefoot)^[5]
1954 – Korea Republic
1958 – None
1962 – None
1966 – Korea DPR
1970 – Israel (now a member of UEFA)
1974 – None
1978 – Iran
1982 – Kuwait
1986 – Iraq, Korea Republic
1990 – Korea Republic, United Arab Emirates
1994 – Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia
1998 – Iran, Japan, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia
2002 – China PR, Japan, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia
2006 – Australia (qualified as an OFC representative), Iran, Japan, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia
2010 – Australia, Japan, Korea Republic, Korea DPR

[edit] Totals (current members)

8:
Korea Republic
4:
Saudi Arabia
Japan
3:
Australia (qualified in 1974 while not a member of any confederation and in 2006 via the OFC, although they joined the AFC before the finals)
Iran
2:
Korea DPR
1:
China PR
India (withdrew after qualifying)
Indonesia (as Dutch East Indies)
Iraq
Kuwait
United Arab Emirates
Israel (incl. 1 as AFC member)

[edit] Women's World Cup qualifiers

The following table shows the AFC representatives at each edition of the FIFA World Cup, sorted by number of appearances.

Team	1991	1995	1999	2003	2007	Total
China PR	•	•	•	•	•	5
Australia	'	'•	•	•	•	4
Japan	•	•	•	•	•	5
Korea DPR			•	•	•	3
Chinese Taipei	•					1
Korea Republic				•		1
Total	3	2	3	4	4	16

1991 – China PR, Chinese Taipei, Japan
1995 – China PR, Japan
1999 – China PR, Japan, Korea DPR
2003 – China PR, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic
2007 – Australia, China PR, Japan, Korea DPR

[edit] Rankings

[edit] Top 10 National Teams

Rankings are calculated by FIFA .^[6]

AFC	FIFA	Country	Points
1	14	Australia	896
2	39	Japan	729
3	48	Korea Republic	626
4	61	Iran	524
5	64	Saudi Arabia	542
6	65	Bahrain	502
7	79	Uzbekistan	412
8	80	Oman	411
9	85	Qatar	397
10	86	Korea DPR	396

Last updated July 01, 2009

[edit] Top 10 Women's National Teams

Rankings are calculated by FIFA.^[7]

AFC	FIFA	Country	Points
1	5	Korea DPR	2026
2	7	Japan	1985
3	12	China	1934
4	14	Australia	1892
5	21	Korea Republic	1786
6	30	Vietnam	1625
7	32	Chinese Taipei	1611
8	35	Thailand	1594
9	44	Myanmar	1523
10	47	Uzbekistan	1502

Last updated June 26, 2009

[edit] Top 20 Asian Clubs

Rankings are calculated by the IFFHS.^[8]

AFC	IFFHS	Club	Points
1	26	Gamba Osaka	176.5
2	64	FC Bunyodkor	138.5
3	109	Al-Hilal	108.5
4	115	FC Pakhtakor Tashkent	105.5
5	122	Al-Karamah	103.5
6	127	Al-Ittihad	101.0
7	129	Kashima Antlers	100.5
8	132	Al-Safa	100.0
9	141	FC Pohang Steelers	96.0
10	152	Becamex BinhDuong	95.5
11	153	Nagoya Grampus Eight	92.5
12	153	Al-Muharraq	92.5
13	163	Chonburi FC	89.0
14	164	South China AA	88.5
15	173	Kawasaki Frontale	87.5
16	189	Al-Majd	85.0
17	192	Al-Shabab	84.5
18	192	Neftchi Farg'ona	84.5
19	237	FC Seoul	77.0
20	243	Persepolis	75.5

Last updated 29 June 2009

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[0] ttp://www.footballasia.com/en/news/index.asp?id=40247&sec=90&ssec=260&mth=7&yr=2005

[1] ttp://www.taipeitimes.com/News/sport/archives/2007/02/14/2003349026

[2] ttp://www.the-afc.com/english/goldenjubilee/default.asp?section=goldenjubilee&subsection=history

[3] ttp://www.the-afc.com/english/index.asp

[4] ttp://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=7/index.html

[5] "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Men) - AFC Region". FIFA. 01 July 2009. http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=m/fullranking.html#confederation=25998&rank=183.

[6] "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Women) - AFC Region". FIFA. 26 June 2009. http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=f/fullranking.html#confederation=25998&rank=526.

[7] "TOP 350 Club World Ranking". IFFHS. 29 June 2009. http://www.iffhs.de/?10f42e00fa2d17f73702fa3016e23c17f7370eff3702bb1c2bbb6f28f53512.

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