Association football in Asia
Football in Asia
SportFootball
ContinentAsia
Most recent
champion(s)		Qatar
Most titlesJapan
Official websitewww.the-afc.com

According to FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association), the earliest form of football (soccer) was played in China and it was dated back to centuries.[1] The game was called cuju and it was played as the same way as football - without using hands or arms and a player had to kick the ball through two goal posts to score a goal where the ball was made of leather.[2]

Football in Asia is enormously diversified and it banks on various surroundings and periods. During the 21st century, football is emerging as a prominent sport in the Asian countries, with Qatar hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup,[3] India introducing the Super League in 2013 and Qatar and the United Arab Emirates' huge investment in clubs overseas.[4]

Asia has the largest fan following of football than any other continent which is approximately 800 million and it also exhibits 32 percent of the viewership for the English Premier League.[5]

The former President of FIFA, for the year 1998–2005, Sepp Blatter asserted his confidence that the future of football must lie in Asia because half of the world's population is in Asia. The official slogan of the Asian Football Confederation is ‘The Future is Asia’, and the AFC aims to develop football in Asia even more in the coming years.[6]

Japan's growing status in football

Football is the second most popular sport in Japan[7] and Japan currently ranks 26th in the Men's FIFA world rankings.[8]

Before the 1980s Japan was undistinguished as a football team and it was not considered to be one of the powerhouses in football. This was before a former American football player, Tom Byer, who retired after a short career in football mainly in Asia, took in charge of the youth development department of the Japan National football team.

Since then, Japan has qualified for the last 6 FIFA World Cups and they also managed to win four out of the last six Asian Football Cups and because of their success, the Japanese National team is now considered as one of the top football teams in Asia.[9] Also Japan and South Korea together hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup.[10]

Japan's J1 League became visible as one of the most popular and prominent soccer leagues internationally during the 1990s.[5]

Japan's national women's football team also showed their dominance beating the USA women's national team in the 2011 World Cup Final in penalty shoot-outs.[11]

South Korea's gaining popularity in football

Ranked 37th in the world[8] in football according to the Men's FIFA World ranking, South Korea is capturing attention from all over the world as the biggest powerhouse in Asia. It is one among the six teams to qualify for the world cup eight consecutive times and now it has qualified for the world cup nine consecutive times.[12] Heung-Min Son is currently the leading scorer in the South Korean national team and is on the rise in the English Premier League.

South Korea finished fourth after their defeat against Turkey in the 2002 World Cup which is the closest any Asian team has ever come to winning the World Cup.[13]

Jeonbuk FC is a South Korean football club and it is the top football club in Asia.[14]

In the 2018 FIFA World cup, despite the fact that the South Korean national team failed to qualify for the round of 16, they knocked out the defending World champions, Germany, out of the world cup in the group stages with Heung-Min Son's 96th-minute goal.[15] Heung-Min Son is the captain of the South Korean National team and he plays for Tottenham Hotspurs in the English Premier League. Son's presence in the English Premier League has brought people's attention to South Korean football. Son also competed on the biggest stage of football, the UEFA Champions League Final with Tottenham Hotspurs against Liverpool FC on 2 June 2019. Besides all this, Son has also received Tottenham's 2018/19 Player of the Season Award and he was named the London Premier League 2019 Player of the Year. He also received Tottenham's Goal of the Season Award for 2018/19.[16]

Son drove South Korea to win the gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games which were held in Indonesia and received a dispensation from South Korea's mandatory 21-month military service for all men in Korea aged between 18 and 28.[16]

Another big name in South Korean football was Park Ji-Sung who played for teams like Manchester United, PSV and Queens Park Rangers. He announced his retirement in 2014 and he's currently a global ambassador for Manchester United.[17]

Development of football in India and China

India is the first Asian team reached on top 4 in a FIFA organized major tournament when they reach Semi finals of Olympics football in 1956. India also once qualified for FIFA World Cup in 1950. India used to rank 173rd in the FIFA rankings in 2015, its lowest rank ever but currently India stands at 104rd.[18] India's attendance for domestic matches has doubled over the last few years, with India vs Kenya in 2018 being a sell-out with 18,000 fans after a public appeal from the India national football team captain, Sunil Chhetri, to the fans which was supported by India's national cricket team captain, Virat Kohli.[19]

Football is the second most popular sport in India. Chhetri, one of the best players of India, with 84 goals from 129 appearances, was awarded the Padma Shri recently.[20] He is also the country's most capped player. Besides winning the football tournament at the Asian games 1951[21] and 1962[22] against Iran and South Korea respectively, India has not had any significant post success, and has not managed to qualify for the FIFA world cup in over 60 years. Though, their best performance in continental level is finishing as runner-up at the 1964 AFC Asian Cup.[23]

In 2009, two IIT Delhi students- Kishore Taid and Anurag Khilnani who were also football enthusiasts started working to drift people's attention towards football in India and they realized that for India to qualify for the World Cup in the future, every school in India needs to have a training academy. So along with the torchbearer of Indian football, Bhaichang Bhutia they founded the Bhaichang Bhutia Football Schools (BFFS) in August 2010. BFFS is now a 4-star rated academy which participates in all AIFF Youth Leagues and has 60 training centers at present.[24]

India hosted the 2017 FIFA Under-17 world cup. India is the fifth Asian country to host the FIFA world cup.[25] It was the first time that India hosted a FIFA tournament and India also became the first Asian country since 2013, to host the U-17 World cup. According to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, India will be the host of the 2020 U-17 FIFA Women's World cup.[26]

The FIFA committee and the Government of India are conceptualizing an ambitious plan called Mission Eleven Million.[25] The program was launched on 6 February 2017. It is a football program that commits to reach out to 11 million school kids and change the viewpoint towards football at the school level. Its aim is to reach 12,000 schools all across the country.[27]

China is currently 74nd[28] in the Men's FIFA world ranking.

The prominence of the Chinese super league has been increased in the past 2 years. The Chinese super league attracted players from all over the world and is one of the biggest footballing markets in the world. China has been investing a lot on Football with Wang Jianlin, Asia's richest man, acquiring a twenty percent stake in the Spanish football club- Atletico Madrid. Other Chinese investors have also been investing in football by buying Espanyol in Spain and also some other football clubs in France and the Netherlands as well.[29] In the 2017 winter transfer window, the 16 teams in the Chinese super league spent 331 million pounds while the 20 teams in the English Premier League spent a total of 215 million pounds on the acquisition of players.[30] China recently announced its desire to create 50,000 new football youth academies by the year 2025.[19]

Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party since 2012, is a big football fan and one of the most powerful persons in the world. He aims to make China a superpower by putting football in the center of his goal-oriented plan as he wants China to qualify for, host, and win the football World Cup at least once before the year 2050.[31]

Since 2013, the Chinese club, Guangzhou Evergrande has won the Asian Champions League twice in 2013 and 2015 and thus, qualified for the FIFA's Club World Cup. They lost to Barcelona in the 2015 Club World Cup tournament[29] and Bayern Munich in 2013. Guangzhou Evergrande are seven-time Chinese Super League champions, the most championships won than any other team in the league.

Football in other countries of Asia

Qatar

Qatar is ranked at 55th in world football[32] and they are the Asian Champions of 2019 defeating Japan 3–1 in the tournament final.[33] Qatar's defender Abdelkarim Hassan was named the Asian Player of the Year for 2018.[34]

Al Duhail SC in Qatar is the second best football club in Asia.[14]

Saudi Arabia

Football is the most popular sport in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is ranked 72nd in the world in football.[8]

In 2012, Saudi Arabia sent female athletes to the Olympics for the first time in their history and the women who represented the nation were- Sarah Attar and Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani. Despite this, women in Saudi Arabia are at a disadvantage as they do not possess proper sports equipment and some of the women grew up even without basic physical education and no access to the gyms which is supported by Rawh Abdullah, the captain of Challenge, which is a soccer club in Riyadh, in her statement in which she says that she wants to become a great athlete but she cannot do so without the basic equipment. The football team, Challenge, used to practice football in a friend's backyard.[35]

The Saudi Arabian women have watched football in a stadium for the first time in 2018.[36] All women were allowed to enter the stadiums in three cities- Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah.

Indonesia

Football is one of the most popular sports in Indonesia.[37] Indonesia is currently ranked at 149th in the FIFA rankings.[38]

Indonesia was the first-ever Asian team to qualify for the FIFA World cup when it was held in 1938. Indonesia qualified for the World cup after Japan had to withdraw from the competition.[39]

In 2012, the Indonesian national team went through a FIFA investigation after the team lost a World Cup Qualifier against Bahrain with a score of 10–0. A result so one-sided aroused suspicion and led FIFA to investigate into the matter.[40]

Football in Indonesia is violent and the Indonesian football association has recorded around 95 deaths since the year 2005. These deaths occurred from stabbing, stampedes, vehicles, tear gas and also from fireworks explosion. Seven people who died in the last six years were the victims of supporters of two arch-rival clubs- Persija and Persib[41]

Due to the violence, the Indonesian soccer club players are transported to and from the stadiums in armored personnel carriers.[42]

Perslb Bandung, an Indonesian soccer club had the highest social media following with 15.92 million in 2018, in Asia with most of its followers coming from Facebook[43]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Zi, Guan. "Research on the Ancient Chinese Cuju and Its History of Evolvement". Guan Zi Journal.
  2. ↑ "Chinese Cuju (Ancient Soccer)". Health and Fitness History. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  3. ↑ Scharfenort, Nadine (2012). "Urban Development and Social Change in Qatar: The Qatar National Vision 2030 and the 2022 FIFA World Cup". Journal of Arabian Studies. 2 (2): 209–230. doi:10.1080/21534764.2012.736204.
  4. ↑ "Football has entered the Asian era – and the region is reinventing the global game". South China Morning Post. 2 November 2016. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  5. 1 2 "New Silk Road proves China now a world power: Spanish foreign minister". South China Morning Post. 24 April 2019. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  6. ↑ Weinberg, Ben (2015). Asia and the Future of Football. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781315739298.
  7. ↑ "The 8 Most Popular Sports in Japan". All About Japan. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  8. 1 2 3 "Fifa rankings". Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  9. ↑ "The inside story of Japan's rise -- a comic book, a TV show, technical skills and a retired American footballer". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  10. ↑ Horne, John (2004). Football Goes East. London: Routledge. p. 288. ISBN 9780203619216.
  11. ↑ "USA Falls in Dramatic Penalty Kick Shootout to Japan in 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup Final". www.ussoccer.com. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  12. ↑ "South Korea at the Football World Cup". www.topendsports.com. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  13. ↑ Diplomat, Samuel Chi, The. "Asia's Woeful World Cup". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. 1 2 FootballDatabase.com. "Asia Football / Soccer Clubs Ranking - FootballDatabase". footballdatabase.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  15. ↑ Haas, Benjamin (28 June 2018). "The South Korean players who sent Germany crashing out of the World Cup". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  16. 1 2 Vandenberg, Layne. "The Significance of Son Heung-min, South Korea's Star Footballer". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 29 May 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  17. ↑ "The Influence of Park Ji-Sung on South Korea". Cultured Vultures. 23 May 2017. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  18. ↑ "FIFA rankings: India slips out of top 100 in latest charts". The Hindu. PTI. 7 February 2019. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. 1 2 Wigmore, Tim (10 June 2018). "Football's new frontiers: why India and China could be the next global superpowers". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  20. ↑ "Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri awarded Padma Shri". www.thenewsminute.com. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  21. ↑ "Indian football team at the Asian Games: 1951 New Delhi". www.sportskeeda.com. 15 August 2014. Archived from the original on 22 March 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  22. ↑ Sengupta, Somnath (20 December 2016). "The 1962 Asian Games: when India conquered the continent". These Football Times. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  23. ↑ Alper, Tim. "Asian Eye – Indian football still finding its feet :: Total Football Magazine – Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two, Non-League News". totalfootballmag.com. Total Football Magazine. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  24. ↑ "Interview with Anurag Khilnani, Co-Founder of Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools". www.sportskeeda.com. 30 July 2011. Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  25. 1 2 "Why FIFA should promote Football in India?". CXO Partners. 20 November 2017. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  26. ↑ "India to host the U-17 Women's World Cup in 2020". ESPN.com. 15 March 2019. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  27. ↑ "Mission 11 million initiative launched". The Hindu. 10 February 2017. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  28. ↑ "China Pr national football team: FIFA ranking". www.11v11.com. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  29. 1 2 Chadwick, Simon. "Can China's Super League help spur its global ambitions?". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  30. ↑ "Chinese Super League outspends Premier League as winter transfer window closes". 28 February 2017. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  31. ↑ Gallagher, Mary. "China cannot spend its way to soccer greatness". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  32. ↑ "Qatar national football team: FIFA ranking". www.11v11.com. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  33. ↑ "Qatar stun Japan with 3-1 win to be crowned Asian Cup champions". The Guardian. Reuters. 1 February 2019. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  34. ↑ "Football - Qatar's Hassan named Asia's best player". SBS News. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  35. ↑ Templin, Jacob. "The Secret Life of a Saudi Women's Soccer Team". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  36. ↑ "First Saudi women watching live football". BBC News. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  37. ↑ "Sports". Indonesia. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  38. ↑ "Indonesia national football team: FIFA ranking". www.11v11.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  39. ↑ "These are Asian Nations at the FIFA World Cup since 80 Years Ago | Seasia.co". Good News from Southeast Asia. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  40. ↑ Duerden, John. "The battles facing Indonesian football". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  41. ↑ "Soccer a deadly game in Indonesia". The Jakarta Post. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  42. ↑ Lipson, Indonesia correspondent David (12 February 2019). "'It's a graveyard, not entertainment': Inside one of sport's most deadly fan cultures". ABC News. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  43. ↑ "10 Asian clubs with highest social media following in 2018". FOX Sports Asia. 5 January 2019. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
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