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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 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, Georgia, and Russia, are instead covered by UEFA; Israel and Armenia 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.

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 plans 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.

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.

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.

ASEAN Football Federation

•  Australia (invite)
•  Brunei
•  Cambodia
•  Timor-Leste
•  Indonesia
•  Laos
•  Malaysia
•  Myanmar
•  Philippines
•  Singapore
•  Thailand
•  Vietnam

East Asian Football Federation

•  China PR
•  Hong Kong
•  Guam
•  Japan
•  Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)
•  Korea DPR
•  Korea Republic
•  Macau
•  Mongolia
•  Northern Mariana Islands (provisional)

West Asian Football Federation

•  Iran
•  Iraq
•  Saudi Arabia
•  Bahrain
•  Jordan
•  Kuwait
•  Lebanon
•  Oman
•  Palestine
•  Qatar
•  Syria
•  United Arab Emirates
•  Yemen

Central and South Asian Football Federation

AFC & SAFF Members

•  Afghanistan
•  Bangladesh
•  Bhutan
•  India
•  Maldives
•  Nepal
•  Pakistan
•  Sri Lanka

AFC & CAFF Members

•  Kyrgyzstan
•  Tajikistan
•  Turkmenistan
•  Uzbekistan

Competitions

AFC tournaments

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

AFC Countries Members National League Ranking

P	National League	Grades
1	J. League	Grade A
2	K-League	Grade A
3	Chinese Super League	Grade B
4	Saudi Professional League	Grade B
5	UAE Football League	Grade B
6	A-League	Grade B
7	Iran Pro League	Grade B
8	Indonesian Super League	Grade B
9	S. League	Grade B
10	Uzbek League	Grade C
11	Qatar Stars League	Grade C
12	Thai Premier League	Grade C
13	V-League	Grade C
14	I-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	Super League Malaysia	Grade D
20	Hong Kong First Division League	Grade D
21	Omani League	Grade D
22	Bahraini Premier League	Grade D
23	Turkmenistan Higher League	Grade D

Awards

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
2009	Yasuhito Endo	Japan	Gamba Osaka

Wins By Country

Nation	Winners
Japan	6
Saudi Arabia	4
Iran	4
Korea Republic	3
Uzbekistan	1
China PR	1
Iraq	1
Qatar	1

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 with the first award being given to Omani player, Mohammed Al-Kathiri.

Year	Footballer	Nation	Club	Remarks
1995	Mohammed Al-Kathiri	Oman	Al-Nasr	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
	Mana Iwabuchi	Japan	NTV Beleza	Women's Winners
2009	Ki Sung-Yong	South Korea	FC Seoul	Man

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
2009	Huh Jung-Moo	Korea Republic national team

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

Summer Olympics qualifiers

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

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	2012	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

Women

Nation	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	Total
China	•	•	•	•		4
Japan	•		•	•		3
North Korea				•		1
Total	2	1	2	3		8

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	2014	Total
Korea Republic					R1								R1	R1	R1	R1	4th	R1	•		8
Japan																R1	R2	R1	•		4
Saudi Arabia															R2	R1	R1	R1			4
Iran											R1					R1		R1			3
Australia1										R1								R2	•		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

   — Hosts

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
• 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

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)

Women's World Cup qualifiers

The following table shows the AFC representatives at each edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, sorted by number of appearances. Australia made its first three appearances in the tournament as an OFC member.

Team	1991	1995	1999	2003	2007	2011	Total
China PR	•	•	•	•	•		5
Japan	•	•	•	•	•		5
Australia		•	•	•	•		4
Korea DPR			•	•	•		3
Chinese Taipei	•						1
Korea Republic				•			1
Total	3	2	3	4	4		16

• 1991 – China PR, Chinese Taipei, Japan
• 1995 – Australia (as member of OFC), China PR, Japan
• 1999 – Australia (as member of OFC), China PR, Japan, Korea DPR
• 2003 – Australia (as member of OFC), China PR, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic
• 2007 – Australia, China PR, Japan, Korea DPR

Rankings

National Teams

Men's Team

Rankings are calculated by FIFA .^[5]

AFC	FIFA	Country	Points
1	23	Australia	857
2	40	Japan	729
3	49	Korea Republic	634
4	59	Saudi Arabia	538
5	60	Bahrain	530
6	63	Iran	499
7	75	Uzbekistan	431
8	85	Korea DPR	378
9	86	Iraq	375
10	87	China PR	373
11	89	Qatar	370
12	92	Kuwait	358
13	93	Oman	352
14	98	Thailand	333
15	100	Syria	331
16	105	Yemen	294
17	106	Jordan	276
18	113	United Arab Emirates	241
19	116	Vietnam	231
20	120	Singapore	217
21	130	India	166
22	134	Turkmenistan	157
23	136	Indonesia	155
24	137	Hong Kong	153
25	140	Maldives	146
26	141	Myanmar	144
27	145	Lebanon	127
28	148	Tajikistan	123
29	150	Bangladesh	117
30	151	Sri Lanka	115
31	152	Nepal	112
32	156	Pakistan	105
33	158	Kyrgyzstan	103
34	159	Malaysia	100
35	162	Chinese Taipei	92
36	167	Philippines	85
37	170	Mongolia	61
38	172	Palestine	57
39	173	Cambodia	56
40	179	Laos	39
41	184	Guam	34
42	188	Macau	31
43	191	Brunei	25
44	194	Afghanistan	20
45	197	Bhutan	17
46	200	Timor-Leste	4

Last updated February 03, 2010

Women's Teams

Rankings are calculated by FIFA.^[6]

AFC	FIFA	Country	Points
1	5	Korea DPR	2026
2	6	Japan	2010
3	13	China PR	1938
4	14	Australia	1892
5	21	Korea Republic	1793
6	32	Vietnam	1638
7	33	Thailand	1601
8	35	Chinese Taipei	1589
9	43	Myanmar	1542
10	47	Uzbekistan	1502

Last updated December 18, 2009

National League

Rankings are calculated by IFFHS .

AFC	IFFHS	Country	Points
1	28	Japan	460,0
2	31	South Korea	413,0
3	32	Saudi Arabia	405.5
4	33	Uzbekistan	392,5
5	50	Iran	329,5
6	57	Syria	314,0
7	62	Thailand	298,0
8	67	Singapore	286,5
9	70	UAE	281,0
10	72	China	268,5
11	76	Vietnam	262,5
12	78	Malaysia	261,0
13	80	Lebanon	254,5
14	81	Yemen	253,5
15	84	Australia	249,0
16	87	Indonesia	247,5
17	88	Kuwait	244,0
18	89	Jordan	243,5
19	90	Qatar	243,0
20	91	Hong Kong	242,5
21	93	Bahrain	238,0
22	99	Oman	204,0

Top 100 National League in 2009

Asian Football Clubs

Rankings are calculated by the IFFHS.^[7]

AFC	IFFHS	Club	Points
1	61	Pohang Steelers	150,5
2	87	Al-Ittihad	125,5
3	98	FC Bunyodkor	120.0
		FC Pakhtakor Tashkent
5	112	Al Kuwait Kaifan	115,5
6	116	Al-Karamah	113,0
7	118	Al-Hilal	112,5
8	129	Gamba Osaka	110,0
9	137	Nagoya Grampus	107,0
10	155	Becamex Bình Dương	101,5
11	159	Kawasaki Frontale	99,5
12	166	Kashima Antlers	96,0
13	183	Al-Shabab	91,5
14	198	Chonburi FC	87,5
15	204	South China AA	85,5
16	223	Al-Majd	81,0
		Al-Muharraq
18	230	Neftchi Farg'ona	80,5
19	236	Singapore Armed Forces FC	79,5
20	237	Al-Jazira	79,5
21	241	Persepolis	78,5
22	242	Al-Wihdat Amman	78,5
23	248	Suwon Samsung Bluewings F.C.	77,5
24	253	Al-Ahed	76,5
25	254	FC Seoul	76,5
26	269	Home United FC	74,0
27	276	Al-Gharafa Sports Club	73,5
28	280	Busaiteen Club	72,5
29	288	Sepahan F.C.	71,5
30	293	Umm-Salal Sports Club	71,0
31	294	Newcastle United Jets FC	70,5
32	299	Selangor FA	69,5
33	321	Zob Ahan F.C.	67,5
34	326	Al-Shabab Dubai	67,0
35	347	Al-Arabi Al-Mansouriah	65,0
36	348	Persipura Jayapura	65,0
37	350	Kedah FA	64,5
38	353	Safa Beirut SC	64,5

Last updated 31 January 2010

See also

IFFHS Asia's best clubs of the 20th century

References

External links

• Official Website
• AFC Asian Cup
• AFC Women's Asian Cup and AFC U-19 Women's Championship
• Asian women's football history
• FootballAsia.com - article on ranking systems for AFC club competitions
• AFC ranking League

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