Asian Football Confederation


The Asian Football Confederation is one of the six continental confederations within FIFA and is the governing body of association football in Asia and Australia. It has 47 member countries, mostly located on the Asian continent, but excludes the transcontinental countries with territory in both Europe and Asia – Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkey – which are instead members of UEFA. Three other states located geographically along the western fringe of Asia – Cyprus, Armenia and Israel – are also UEFA members. On the other hand, Australia, formerly in the OFC, joined the Asian Football Confederation in 2006. Guam, a territory of the United States, and the Northern Mariana Islands, one of the two Commonwealths of the United States are also AFC members that are geographically in Oceania. Hong Kong and Macau, although not independent countries, are also members of the AFC.
The AFC was officially formed on 8 May 1954 in Manila, Philippines, on the sidelines of the second Asian Games. The main headquarters is located in 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, Republic of China, Hong Kong, Iran, India, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore and South Vietnam were founding members.
The AFC Asian Cup is the second-oldest continental football competition in the world, with four teams taking part in the first edition in the then-British Hong Kong in 1956.
The Asian Ladies Football Confederation 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 organize 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.

AFC Executive Committee

;AFC President and FIFA Senior Vice President
;FIFA Council Members
;AFC Vice Presidents
;AFC Executive Committee Members
;General Secretary
AFC National League
The AFC has 47 member associations which split into five regions. Several nations proposed a South West Asian Federation but that will not interfere with AFC zones.

Former members

AFC competitions

National teams

Men's
Intersub-continental
Women's
Men's
Women's
National teams
Clubs
The AFC runs the AFC Asian Cup and AFC Women's Asian Cup, which determine the Champions of Asia, as well as the AFC Solidarity Cup. All three competitions are held every four years. The AFC also organises the 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, CAFA Championship and WAFF Championship.

Club

The top-ranked AFC competition is the AFC Champions League, which started in the 2002–03 season and gathers the top 1–4 teams of each country ; 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 title holders

Sponsors and supporters

The following are the sponsors of AFC

Men's national teams

are calculated by FIFA.

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DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:08/08/1993 till:12/09/2005
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1994
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy
  1. A line at the right side of the graph
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from:08/08/1993 till:12/09/2005 atpos:65 color:black width:0.5
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id:KSA value:green
id:IRN value:white
id:JPN value:blue
id:AUS value:yellow
id:KOR value:red
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bar:Leaders width:25 mark: align:left fontsize:S
from:08/08/1993 till:19/11/1993 shift: text:"Korea Republic" color:KOR
from:19/11/1993 till:22/08/1995 shift: text:"Saudi Arabia" color:KSA
from:22/08/1995 till:19/09/1995 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:19/09/1995 till:17/10/1995 shift: text:"Korea Republic" color:KOR
from:17/10/1995 till:15/07/1998 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:15/07/1998 till:27/01/1999 shift: text:"Korea Republic" color:KOR
from:27/01/1999 till:24/02/1999 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:24/02/1999 till:18/08/1999 shift: text:"Korea Republic" color:KOR
from:18/08/1999 till:12/04/2000 shift: text:"Saudi Arabia" color:KSA
from:12/04/2000 till:07/06/2000 shift: text:"Korea Republic" color:KOR
from:07/06/2000 till:05/07/2000 shift: text:"Iran" color:IRN
from:05/07/2000 till:11/10/2000 shift: text:"Korea Republic" color:KOR
from:11/10/2000 till:15/11/2000 shift: text:"Iran" color:IRN
from:15/11/2000 till:20/12/2000 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:20/12/2000 till:17/01/2001 shift: text:"Korea Republic" color:KOR
from:17/01/2001 till:14/02/2001 shift: text:"Iran" color:IRN
from:14/02/2001 till:22/08/2001 shift: text:"Saudi Arabia" color:KSA
from:22/08/2001 till:21/11/2001 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:21/11/2001 till:03/07/2002 shift: text:"Iran" color:IRN
from:03/07/2002 till:30/07/2003 shift: text:"Korea Republic" color:KOR
from:30/07/2003 till:22/10/2003 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:22/10/2003 till:14/04/2004 shift: text:"Korea Republic" color:KOR
from:14/04/2004 till:07/07/2004 shift: text:"Iran" color:IRN
from:07/07/2004 till:04/08/2004 shift: text:"Korea Republic" color:KOR
from:04/08/2004 till:15/06/2005 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:15/06/2005 till:20/07/2005 shift: text:"Iran" color:IRN
from:20/07/2005 till:17/08/2005 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:17/08/2005 till:12/09/2005 shift: text:"Iran" color:IRN



Top ranked men's national teams


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  1. A line at the right side of the graph
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from:12/09/2005 till:end atpos:65 color:black width:0.5
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id:KSA value:green
id:IRN value:white
id:JPN value:blue
id:AUS value:yellow
id:KOR value:red
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from:12/09/2005 till:12/07/2006 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:12/07/2006 till:22/11/2006 shift: text:"Australia" color:AUS
from:22/11/2006 till:13/06/2007 shift: text:"Iran" color:IRN
from:13/06/2007 till:04/06/2008 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:04/06/2008 till:02/07/2008 shift: text:"Australia" color:AUS
from:02/07/2008 till:12/11/2008 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:12/11/2008 till:02/02/2011 shift: text:"Australia" color:AUS
from:02/02/2011 till:12/02/2012 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:12/02/2012 till:06/06/2012 shift: text:"Australia" color:AUS
from:06/06/2012 till:28/11/2013 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:28/11/2013 till:17/07/2014 shift: text:"Iran" color:IRN
from:17/07/2014 till:18/09/2014 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:18/09/2014 till:27/11/2014 shift: text:"Iran" color:IRN
from:27/11/2014 till:18/12/2014 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:18/12/2014 till:07/06/2018 shift: text:"Iran" color:IRN
from:07/06/2018 till:16/08/2018 shift: text:"Australia" color:AUS
from:16/08/2018 till:28/11/2019 shift: text:"Iran" color:IRN
from:28/11/2019 till: end shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN


Men's elo rankings

Here are the World Football Elo Ratings for AFC members.
AFCElo RankingsCountryElo ratings1 year change
1271,771 4
2301,744 5
3321,739 13
4401,712 2
5461,670 28
6561,622 12
7641,578 4
8681,554 6
9731,534 30
10821,500 10
11861,483 28
12871,475 7
13901,460 13
14941,449 12
151011,416 1
161041,408 24
171061,404 15
181101,381
191131,375 16
201161,358 5
211381,271 1
221421,265 9
231481,233 10
241561,207 8
251571,201 18
261601,190 4
271661,170 11
281701,159 11
291721,152 1
301771,137 7
311791,118 16
321851,047 1
33194947 2
34195941 1
35197918 4
36204873 6
37207838 1
38208831 2
39214734 7
40215730 1
41219696 6
42221690 1
43225669 8
44226638 1
45228619 1
46232563 1
47238409

Women's national teams

are calculated by FIFA.
AFCFIFACountryPoints+/-
171,963
2101,940 1
3111,937 2
4151,867 1
5181,818 2
6351,657 3
7391,596 1
8401,589
9421,543
10451,511 1
11551,432 2
12581,419 1
13671,369 2
14701,358 1
15741,335 3
16801,282
17831,274 1
18881,238 1
19921,222 1
20961,201 3
21971,200 3
221141,131 2
231181,118 2
241211,114 1
251241,089 1
261281,035 2
271301,008 2
28136968 2
29137967 2
30138966 2
31150769 5

Top ranked women's national teams


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DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:16/07/2003 till:13/12/2019
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2004
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy
Colors =
id:AUS value:yellow
id:CHN value:red
id:JPN value:blue
id:PRK value:rgb
  1. A line at the right side of the graph
LineData =
from:16/07/2003 till:end atpos:65 color:black width:0.5
PlotData=
bar:Leaders width:25 mark: align:left fontsize:S
from:16/07/2003 till:25/03/2005 shift: text:"China" color:CHN
from:25/03/2005 till:28/05/2010 shift: text:"North Korea" color:PRK
from:28/05/2010 till:25/03/2016 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:25/03/2016 till:24/03/2017 shift: text:"Australia" color:AUS
from:24/03/2017 till:01/09/2017 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:01/09/2017 till:22/06/2018 shift: text:"Australia" color:AUS
from:22/06/2018 till:28/09/2018 shift: text:"Japan" color:JPN
from:28/09/2018 till:end shift: text:"Australia" color:AUS

Club Competitions Ranking

The AFC Club Competitions Ranking ranks its member associations by results in the AFC competitions. Rankings are calculated by the AFC. Listed here are the top 30 countries.
AFCCountryPoints
1100.000
297.644
393.321
488.449
585.979
681.724
761.870
851.189
948.992
1045.562
1140.896
1233.852
1332.130
1430.100
1529.576
1628.571
1728.361
1826.96
1926.607
2026.532
2124.746
2222.505
2319.945
2417.749
2514.683
2613.632
2712.756
2812.550
298.531
307.297

Clubs

Rankings are calculated by the IFFHS. Listed here are the top ten clubs.
RankIFFHSClubPoints
162 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors153
268 Kashima Antlers149.5
377 Al-Duhail142
495 Ulsan Hyundai133.5
598 Al Ain131
6105 Suwon Samsung Bluewings126
7118 Persepolis116.5
8127 Buriram United114.5
9130 Al Sadd113.5
10135 Al-Ahli112.5

Men's futsal

Here is the men's futsal rank per December 2019
AFCFIFACountryPoints+/-
161603
2151378
3191323
4241221 2
5321177
6411103
7421079
8441064
9451046
10471000
1153970 3
1262899
1366877 1
1468872
1570863
1672857
1773848
1874840
1980807 1
2082804 6
2183803 2
2285793 1
2391767
2391767
2594738
26101655
27102622
28103609
29104588
30105581 1
31108535 1
32110528 1
**596
**540
**651
**614
*588
*578
*543
**486
**457

a number between brackets is the rank of the previous week.
are calculated by Beach Soccer Worldwide.
AFC rankWorld rankCountryPoints
152489
262316
3141457
420896
538394
651236
753229
854220
960182
1069143
1170141
1274114
1376106
148676
158862
168862
179451
189540
1910122
2010312
211150
221170
231180
241190

Hall of Fame

The AFC has been accused of its political nepotism and corruption within the federation.
Hakeem al-Araibi, Bahraini footballer turned political refugee in Australia, was arrested by Thai police on his honeymoon to Thailand in November 2017. He faced extradition charges from the Bahraini government on the false accusation over his involvement in the Bahraini uprising of 2011 that he instigated the attack on a police station. As Thailand did not sign the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Thai economic interests with Bahrain, and the ruling president of the AFC, Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, is a member of Bahraini Royal family, fear that the AFC might set up as culprit for the deportation, triggered international outcry. Australia and FIFA eventually intervened and Thai officials would release Hakeem in February 2019, but this highlighted rampant political corruption in the AFC.
The AFC Asian Cup is also marked with numerous instances of political interference. One of these was the case of Israel, as the team used to be a member of the AFC but following Yom Kippur War and increasing tensions against the Arab AFC members, Israel was expelled from the AFC in 1974 and had to compete in OFC until being granted UEFA membership in 1990. Meanwhile, similar cases also exist in other AFC tournaments like the one between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Following the 2016 attack on the Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran, Saudi Arabia has rejected playing with Iran and even threatens to withdraw if the AFC refuses to follow, and even extended it to international level. Tensions between the two Koreas during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification had led North Korea to withdraw from hosting the South Korean team and refusing to display the South Korean flag and play their national anthem. As a result, North Korea's home matches were moved to Shanghai.
In the 2019 AFC Asian Cup held in the United Arab Emirates, Qatari fans were barred from entering the country as part of the ongoing Qatar diplomatic crisis, despite the earlier slogan "Bringing Asia Together", although the Emirati government later announced that it would permit Qatari citizens temporary entry into the country pending approval from Emirati authorities. According to a report, Saoud al-Mohannadi, a Qatari national who is the AFC vice-president and chairman of the organizing committee for the Asian Cup, was unable to enter the UAE two days prior to the tournament's start because Emirati authorities had not yet cleared him. The director of the 2019 AFC Organizing Committee denied reports that Al Mohannadi was refused entry and declared that Al Mohannadi has arrived on Friday morning and was preparing for his meetings. The director stated that there was no evidence that shows he was unable to enter and stated that this news has "political purposes". He stated, "We try to keep sports away from politics." Since then, the Qatari team faced imminent discrimination from the host nation, and even in the semi-finals when Qatar faced up host nation, UAE supporters threw bottles and footwear into the match after Qatari players scored their second goal, the latter is considered deeply offensive in the Middle East. One of the Qatari players, Salem Al Hajri, was struck on the head with a shoe after Qatar scored its third goal. This conduct was preceded by booing the Qatari national anthem. The two countries had had a hostile relationship and had cut ties due to the ongoing diplomatic crisis. Qatar won 4–0 despite the situation, reaching their first Asian Cup final and would go on to win the tournament for the first time. Afterwards, the AFC declared that it would conduct an investigation into the proceedings, eventually punished the UAEFA over the incident, fined $150,000 US dollars for the incident and had to play their first 2022 and 2023 qualification game in closed doors. However, on 21 September, AFC had mysteriously lifted the ban just a few weeks before the match has begun.
During the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, North Korea reluctantly agreed to host the South Korean team in Pyongyang, the first time North Korea hosted South Korea at home in a competitive match. Enthusiasm thus ran high due to aspiration of reconciliation between two Koreas, only to be later shattered by the North Korean Government banning supporters from entering the stadium, and aggressive performance by the Northern players to the Southern counterparts. The match ended a goalless draw, but as for the result of controversies, South Korea decided to pull out the bid for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, and accused North Korea of political meddling in sports. The AFC was accused of doing little about the case, which led to the AFC to decide the final of the 2019 AFC Cup would not be hosted in North Korea.
In 2020 AFC Champions League, the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran received a letter from the AFC on 17 January 2020 announcing that teams from Iran would not be allowed to host their home matches in their country due to security concerns. The four AFC Champions League teams from Iran announced on 18 January 2020 that they would withdraw from the tournament if the ban was not reversed. The AFC announced on 23 January 2020 that any group stage matches which the Iranian teams were supposed to host on matchdays 1, 2 and 3 would be switched with the corresponding away matches to allow time to reassess the security concerns in the country.
On 9 March 2020, FIFA announced in a statement that matches between Asian qualifiers for World Cup 2022, which were scheduled for March and June, are postponed to a later time. The decision has been made due to the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

Major tournament records

;Legend
For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of teams in each finals tournament are shown.

FIFA World Cup

FIFA Women's World Cup

Olympic Games For Men

Olympic Games For Women

AFC Asian Cup

AFC Women's Asian Cup

FIFA U-20 World Cup

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

FIFA U-17 World Cup

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

FIFA Futsal World Cup

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

FIFA Confederations Cup