Asian Football Confederation

Asian Football Confederation
Initials(s)	AFC
Formation	8 May 1954
No. of members	47
President	Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football in Asia and Australia. It has 47 member countries, mostly located on the Asian and Australian continent but excluding all the transcontinental countries with territory in both Europe and Asia, which are members of UEFA (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkey). Israel is also a UEFA member even though it lies entirely in Asia, as is arguably also the case for Cyprus. On the other hand, Australia, formerly in the OFC, has joined the Asian Football Confederation since 2006, and the Oceanian island of Guam, a territory of the United States, is also a member of AFC.

One of FIFA's six continental confederations, the AFC was formed officially on 8 May 1954 in Manila, Philippines, on the sidelines of the second Asian Games. The main headquarters is located in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The current president is Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa of Bahrain.

History

The Asian Football Confederation was founded on 8 May 1954. Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Republic of China (Chinese Taipei), Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore and South Vietnam were founding members.

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. 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.

Members

AFC regional federations

The AFC has 47 member associations split into five regions.

• 12 from West Asia
• 6 from Central Asia
• 7 from South Asia
• 10 from East Asia
• 12 from South East Asia

Code	Association	National teams
West Asian Football Federation (WAFF)
BHR	Bahrain	(M, W)
IRQ	Iraq	(M, W)
JOR	Jordan	(M, W)
KUW	Kuwait	(M, W)
LIB	Lebanon	(M, W)
OMA	Oman	(M, W)
PLE	Palestine	(M, W)
QAT	Qatar	(M, W)
KSA	Saudi Arabia	(M, W)
SYR	Syria	(M, W)
UAE	United Arab Emirates	(M, W)
YEM	Yemen	(M, W)
Central Asian Football Association (CAFA)
AFG	Afghanistan	(M, W)
IRN	Iran	(M, W)
KGZ	Kyrgyzstan	(M, W)
TJK	Tajikistan	(M, W)
TKM	Turkmenistan	(M, W)
UZB	Uzbekistan	(M, W)
South Asian Football Federation (SAFF)
BAN	Bangladesh	(M, W)
BHU	Bhutan	(M, W)
IND	India	(M, W)
MDV	Maldives	(M, W)
NEP	Nepal	(M, W)
PAK	Pakistan	(M, W)
SRI	Sri Lanka	(M, W)
East Asian Football Federation (EAFF)
CHN	China PR	(M, W)
GUM	Guam	(M, W)
HKG	Hong Kong	(M, W)
JPN	Japan	(M, W)
PRK	Korea DPR	(M, W)
KOR	South Korea	(M, W)
MAC	Macau	(M, W)
MNG	Mongolia	(M, W)
NMI	Northern Mariana Islands1	(M, W)
TPE	Chinese Taipei	(M, W)
ASEAN Football Federation (AFF)
AUS	Australia	(M, W)
BRU	Brunei	(M, W)
CAM	Cambodia	(M, W)
IDN	Indonesia	(M, W)
LAO	Laos	(M, W)
MAS	Malaysia	(M, W)
MYA	Myanmar	(M, W)
PHI	Philippines	(M, W)
SIN	Singapore	(M, W)
THA	Thailand	(M, W)
TLS	Timor-Leste	(M, W)
VIE	Vietnam	(M, W)

1: Associate AFC member

Former members

• Israel Football Association 1954–1974; joined UEFA in 1994 because they were excluded from AFC competitions, as a result of a proposal by Kuwait which was adopted by a vote of 17 to 13 with 6 abstentions.
• New Zealand Football 1964; founding member of OFC in 1966
• Football Federation of Kazakhstan 1992–2002; joined UEFA in 2002

Competitions

International

The AFC runs the AFC Asian Cup and AFC Women's Asian Cup - both competitions are held every four years and determine the national Champions of Asia. The AFC also organises the AFC Challenge Cup, AFC Futsal Championship, AFC Beach Soccer Championship, various age-level international youth football tournaments and the Asian qualifying tournament for the FIFA World Cup, FIFA Women's World Cup and for football at the Summer Olympics.

In addition to the AFC run international tournaments, each AFC regional federation organises its own tournament for national teams: EAFF East Asian Cup, SAFF Championship, AFF Championship and WAFF Championship.

Club

The top-ranked AFC competition is the AFC Champions League, which started in the 2002–03 season (an amalgamation of the Asian Champions Cup and the Asian Cup Winners Cup) and gathers the top 1–4 teams of each country (the number of teams depend on that country's ranking and can be upgraded or downgraded); this competition only gathered teams from top country.

A second, lower-ranked competition is the AFC Cup. This competition was launched by AFC in 2004. A third competition, the AFC President's Cup, which had started in 2005, was absorbed into the AFC Cup in 2015.

The AFC also runs an annual Asian futsal club competition, the AFC Futsal Club Championship.

Current champions

Competitions	Champion	Title	Next Edition
AFC Asian Cup	Qatar	1st	2023
AFC U-23 Championship	Iraq	1st	2016
AFC U-19 Championship	Uzbekistan	1st	2018
AFC U-16 Championship	North Korea	2nd	2016
AFC U-14 Championship	Iraq	1st	2016
AFC Futsal Championship	Japan	3rd	2016
AFC Beach Soccer Championship	{Iran	1st	2015
AFC Champions League	Western Sydney Wanderers	1st	2015
AFC Cup	Qadsia SC	1st	2015
AFC Futsal Club Championship	Nagoya Oceans	2nd	2015
AFC Women's Asian Cup	Japan	1st	2018
AFC U-19 Women's Championship	South Korea	2nd	2015
AFC U-16 Women's Championship	Japan	3rd	2015

Defunct competitions

Competitions	Last Edition	Last Champion	Title
AFC Challenge Cup	2014	Palestine	1st
AFC President's Cup	2014	HTTU Asgabat	1st
Asian Cup Winners' Cup	2001–02	Al-Hilal	2nd
Asian Super Cup	2002	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	2nd

Sponsors

The following are the sponsors of AFC (named "AFC Partners"):

• Fly Emirates
• Nike
• Nikon Corporation
• ING
• Panasonic
• Tsingtao
• Yanmar
• Qatar Petroleum
• QNB Group
• Seiko
• Qantas

Rankings

Men's national teams Rankings are calculated by FIFA. AFC FIFA Country Points +/- Region 1 41 Iran 700 +10 CAFA 2 54 South Korea 608 +15 EAFF 3 55 Japan 605 -1 EAFF 4 63 Australia 548 +37 AFF 5 66 United Arab Emirates 529 +14 WAFF 6 71 Uzbekistan 347 CAFA 7 82 Template:Country data China PR 429 +14 EAFF 8 91 Oman 368 +2 WAFF 9 94 Iraq 360 +20 WAFF 10 97 Jordan 353 -4 WAFF 11 98 Saudi Arabia 351 +4 WAFF 12 103 Bahrain 322 +7 WAFF 13 109 Qatar 305 -17 WAFF 14 121 Lebanon 254 +1 WAFF 15 126 Palestine 234 -11 WAFF 16 128 Kuwait 231 -3 WAFF 17 132 Vietnam 221 +1 AFF 17 132 Philippines 221 -3 AFF 19 135 Maldives 220 -4 SAFF 20 137 Tajikistan 215 -1 CAFA 21 141 Myanmar 200 AFF 22 143 Thailand 184 +1 AFF 23 144 Afghanistan 181 -2 CAFA 24 147 Turkmenistan 170 CAFA 25 150 Syria 156 +1 WAFF 26 151 Kyrgyzstan 146 +1 CAFA 27 152 North Korea 144 -2 EAFF 28 154 Malaysia 142 AFF 29 156 Singapore 136 +1 AFF 30 157 Bangladesh 129 +8 SAFF 31 158 Indonesia 128 +1 AFF 32 156 Hong Kong 127 -3 EAFF 33 161 Laos 123 -1 AFF 34 162 Guam 119 -1 EAFF 35 171 Template:Country data india 85 SAFF 35 171 Pakistan 85 +17 SAFF 37 173 Sri Lanka 78 -1 SAFF 38 179 Yemen 60 -3 WAFF 39 180 Nepal 55 +6 SAFF 40 184 Cambodia 53 -5 AFF 40 184 Chinese Taipei 53 -2 EAFF 42 187 Template:Country data Timor-Leste 51 -2 AFF 43 188 Macau 50 -2 EAFF 44 194 Mongolia 29 EAFF 45 198 Brunei 15 AFF 46 209 Bhutan 0 SAFF Last updated 12 February 2015

Top ranked men's national teams

Women's national teams Rankings are calculated by FIFA. AFC FIFA Country Points +/- Region 1 4 Japan 2084 -1 EAFF 2 7 North Korea 1954 +4 EAFF 3 10 Australia 1957 AFF 4 13 Template:Country data China PR 1869 +1 EAFF 5 17 South Korea 1836 EAFF 6 31 Thailand 1651 -1 AFF 6 34 Vietnam 1626 AFF 8 40 Chinese Taipei 1574 -1 EAFF 9 44 Myanmar 1530 +1 AFF 10 53 India 1433 SAFF 11 56 Jordan 1420 +1 WAFF 12 67 Hong Kong 1361 +1 EAFF 13 75 Indonesia 1330 +1 AFF 14 80 Philippines 1309 AFF 15 81 Bahrain 1304 +2 WAFF 16 85 Guam 1287 EAFF 17 86 Laos 1283 AFF 18 88 Malaysia 1269 AFF 19 96 Palestine 1191 WAFF 20 100 Singapore 1177 AFF 21 107 Nepal 1115 +2 SAFF 22 116 Bangladesh 987 +1 SAFF 23 117 Sri Lanka 970 +16 SAFF 24 120 Maldives 938 +1 SAFF 25 122 Pakistan 926 +11 SAFF 26 123 Afghanistan 899 +10 CAFA 27 124 Qatar 864 +1 WAFF 28 129 Bhutan 778 +4 SAFF 29 133 Syria 927 WAFF 30 133 Iraq 882 WAFF 31 133 United Arab Emirates 1665 WAFF 32 133 Macau 922 EAFF 33 133 Uzbekistan 1548 -90 CAFA 34 133 Iran 1412 -75 CAFA 35 133 Kyrgyzstan 1136 -27 CAFA 36 133 Lebanon 955 -14 WAFF 37 133 Kuwait 870 -9 WAFF Last updated 19 December 2014

National leagues Rankings are calculated by IFFHS . AFC IFFHS Country Points +/- 1 24 Korea Republic 562,5 2 29 Saudi Arabia 490,0 3 30 Japan 460,5 4 46 Kuwait 377,0 2 5 50 UAE 352,0 5 6 56 China 340,5 2 7 57 Qatar 338,0 1 8 61 Iran 333,5 3 9 62 Australia 331,0 11 10 63 Thailand 329,5 3 11 74 Indonesia 285,0 8 12 82 Uzbekistan 256,0 3 13 84 Lebanon 252,5 2 14 87 Jordan 241,5 1 15 88 Singapore 240,0 3 16 89 Hong Kong 235,0 5 17 92 Iraq 230,5 6 18 94 Bahrain 224,5 1 19 95 Oman 221,0 7 20 99 Malaysia 193,5 6 21 100 Vietnam 182,75 1 22 105 Turkmenistan 146,5 2 23 116 Myanmar 108,5 2 24 119 Pakistan 104,0 25 125 Syria 97,5 26 128 Bangladesh 96,0 27 137 India 92,0 11 28 140 Philippines 81,0 29 149 Palestine 70,5 30 150 Kyrgyzstan 70,0 31 151 Maldives 69,5 32 154 Sri Lanka 68,0 33 155 Nepal 64,5 34 155 Tajikistan 63,0 35 163 Mongolia 50,5 36 165 Bhutan 48,5 37 166 Chinese Taipei 43,0 Top 100 National League in 2014

Clubs Rankings are calculated by the IFFHS. AFC IFFHS Club Points 1 64 FC Seoul 147 2 65 Al-Hilal FC 146,5 3 85 Pohang Steelers 133 4 86 Qadsia SC 132,5 5 86 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 132,5 6 93 Al Ain FC 130,5 7 123 Kuwait SC 116,5 8 125 Western Sydney Wanderers FC 116 9 157 Kawasaki Frontale 103,5 10 166 Al-Sadd SC 98,5 Last updated 13 January 2015 Clubs Rankings are calculated by the AFC. Rank Club Points 1 Al-Hilal FC 106 2 FC Seoul 96.66 3 Al-Ittihad FC 95 4 Guangzhou Evergrande 93.58 5 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 84.66 6 Esteghlal F.C. 82.16 7 Sepahan F.C. 82.16 8 Al Shabab FC 80 9 FC Bunyodkor 78.12 10 Al-Ahli SC 67 11 Pohang Steelers 65.66 12 Ulsan Hyundai FC 64.66 13 Al Ain FC 63.13 14 Al Sadd SC 58.77 15 Al Jazira Club 58.13 Last updated 19 December 2014 Last updated 19 December 2014

Hall of Fame

Main article: Asian Football Hall of Fame

• Harry Kewell
• Baichung Bhutia
• Homayoun Behzadi
• Ali Daei
• Yasuhiko Okudera
• Hong Myung-bo
• Soh Chin Aun
• Sami Al Jaber
• Sun Wen
• Homare Sawa

World Cup participation

Legend

•  1st  – Champion
•  2nd  – Runner-up
•  3rd  – Third place
•  4th  – Fourth place
• QF – Quarterfinals
• R16 – Round of 16 (since 1986: knockout round of 16)
• GS – Group stage (in the 1950, 1974, 1978, and 1982 tournaments, which had two group stages, this refers to the first group stage)
• 1S – First knockout stage (1934–1938 Single-elimination tournament)
•  •  — Did not qualify
•     — Did not enter / withdrew / banned
•     — Hosts

FIFA World Cup

Team	1930	1934	1938	1950	1954	1958	1962	1966	1970	1974	1978	1982	1986	1990	1994	1998	2002	2006	2010	2014	2018	Total	inclusive WC Qual.
South Korea					GS		•		•	•	•	•	GS	GS	GS	GS	4th	GS	R16	GS		9	14
Japan					•		•		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	GS	R16	GS	R16	GS		5	14
Iran										•	GS			•	•	GS	•	GS	•	GS		4	9
Saudi Arabia											•	•	•	•	R16	GS	GS	GS	•	•		4	10
Australia								•	•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	R16	GS	GS		2	2
North Korea								QF		•		•	•	•	•			•	GS	•		2	9
Iraq										•		•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	•		1	10
United Arab Emirates						•							•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•		1	9
China						•						•	•	•	•	•	GS	•	•	•		1	10
Kuwait										•	•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•		1	11
Indonesia			1S			•				•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•		1	13
Israel				•	•	•	•	•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•		1	3
India				×									•		•	•	•	•	•	•		1*	8
Total	0	0	1	1*	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	1	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4		33

FIFA Women's World Cup

Team	1991	1995	1999	2003	2007	2011	2015	Total
Japan	GS	QF	GS	GS	GS	1st	Q	7
China	QF	4th	2nd	QF	QF	•	Q	6
North Korea	•		GS	GS	QF	GS	DSQ	4
Australia		GS	GS	GS	QF	QF	Q	3
South Korea	•	•	•	GS	•	•	Q	2
Chinese Taipei	QF	•	•	•	•	•	•	1
Thailand	•			•	•	•	Q	1
Total	3	2	3	4	4	3	5	24

Other international tournaments

FIFA Confederations Cup

Team	1992	1995	1997	1999	2001	2003	2005	2009	2013	2017	Total
Japan	•	GS	•	•	2nd	GS	GS	•	GS	•	5
Saudi Arabia	2nd	GS	GS	4th	•	•	•	•	•	•	4
Iraq	×	×	•	•	•	•	•	GS	•	•	1
South Korea	×	•	•	•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	1
United Arab Emirates	•	•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	1
Australia	×	×	2nd	•	3rd	•	GS	•	•	Q	1*
Total	1	2	2	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	13

External links

• Official AFC website

Confederations

Asian Football Confederation Confederation of African Football CONCACAF CONMEBOL Oceania Football Confederation UEFA