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Asian Football Confederation

International governing body for association football, beach football, and futsal From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Asian Football Confederation
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The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia.[a] The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation (ALFC) was the section of AFC that managed women's association football in Asia. The group was independently founded in April 1968 in a meeting involving Taiwan, British Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore. In 1986, ALFC merged with AFC.[1]

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Executive Committ

Members

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2026 FIFA World Cup Qualification Playoffs

In June 2025, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) confirmed that Qatar and Saudi Arabia will host the Asian qualifying playoffs for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The playoffs will feature six teams, comprising the third- and fourth-placed teams from the recent third round of Asian qualifiers. These teams will be divided into two groups of three, with the winners of each group advancing to the intercontinental playoff round. The decision reflects the AFC’s strategy of leveraging regional hosts to manage logistical efficiency and competitive neutrality in crucial qualifying stages.[7]

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Member associations

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AFC regional federations

The AFC has 47 member associations split into five subregions: Central (four former Soviet Central Asian countries plus Afghanistan and Iran), East (eight East Asian nations and two Micronesian territories: Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands), South (five countries on the Indian Subcontinent plus Maldives and Sri Lanka), South East (ten ASEAN countries plus Australia and East Timor), and West (twelve Arab countries). Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), the Republic of China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam were the founding members.[8][9]

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Former members

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Competitions

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AFC competitions

AFC runs the AFC Asian Cup and the AFC Women's Asian Cup, which are held every 4 years. AFC organises the AFC Futsal Asian Cup, AFC Women's Futsal Asian Cup, AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup, various age-level international association football, youth futsal tournaments and the Asian qualifying tournament for the FIFA World Cup and for football at the Summer Olympics.

The top-ranked AFC tournament for men's association football clubs is the AFC Champions League Elite. The competition is an amalgamation of the Asian Club Championship, the Asian Cup Winners' Cup and the Asian Super Cup and gathers the top teams from the highest-ranked nations in Asia (the number of teams depend on that country's ranking and can be upgraded or downgraded). The top-ranked AFC tournament for women's association football clubs is the AFC Women's Champions League which was launched in the 2024–25 season.[18]

The second-tier men's tournament is the AFC Champions League Two, while the third-tier tournament is the AFC Challenge League, which were both revamped and rebranded in 2024.[19]

AFC runs an annual Asian futsal club tournament, the AFC Futsal Club Championship for futsal club competition.[20]

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Title Holders

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Esports

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Defunct tournaments

Titles by nation

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Rankings

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FIFA World Rankings

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Historical leaders

Men's
Japan national football teamIran national football teamJapan national football teamIran national football teamAustralia men's national soccer teamIran national football teamJapan national football teamIran national football teamJapan national football teamIran national football teamJapan national football teamAustralia men's national soccer teamJapan national football teamAustralia men's national soccer teamJapan national football teamAustralia men's national soccer teamJapan national football teamIran national football teamAustralia men's national soccer teamJapan national football team
Iran national football teamJapan national football teamIran national football teamJapan national football teamKorea Republic national football teamIran national football teamKorea Republic national football teamJapan national football teamKorea Republic national football teamIran national football teamJapan national football teamSaudi Arabia national football teamIran national football teamKorea Republic national football teamJapan national football teamIran national football teamKorea Republic national football teamIran national football teamKorea Republic national football teamSaudi Arabia national football teamKorea Republic national football teamJapan national football teamKorea Republic national football teamJapan national football teamKorea Republic national football teamJapan national football teamSaudi Arabia national football teamKorea Republic national football team
Women's
Japan women's national football teamAustralia women's national football teamNorth Korea women's national football teamAustralia women's national football teamJapan women's national football teamAustralia women's national football teamJapan women's national football teamAustralia women's national football teamJapan women's national football teamNorth Korea women's national football teamChina women's national football team

Team of the Year

Men
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Performances by countries
More information Team, First place ...
Women
Performances by countries

Men's elo rankings

World Football Elo Ratings for AFC members:[25]

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Club Competitions Ranking

The AFC Club Competitions Ranking ranks its member associations by results in the AFC competitions. Rankings are calculated by AFC.[26] Listed here are the top 30 countries.

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Beach soccer national teams

Rankings are calculated by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW).[27]

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Men's futsal

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Women's futsal

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Tournament record

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Legend
  •  1st  – Champion
  •  2nd  – Runner-up
  •  3rd  – Third place
  •  4th  – Fourth place
  • QF – Quarter-finals (1934–1938, 1954–1970, and 1986–present: knockout round of 8)
  • R3 — Round 3 (2026–present: knockout round of 16)
  • R2 — Round 2 (1974–1978: second group stage, top 8; 1982: second group stage, top 12; 1986–2022: knockout round of 16; 2026–present: knockout round of 32)
  • R1 — Round 1 (1930, 1950–1970 and 1986–present: group stage; 1934–1938: knockout round of 16; 1974–1982: first group stage)
  •  Q  — Qualified for upcoming tournament
  •  ••  — Qualified but withdrew
  •    — Did not qualify
  •  ×  — Did not enter / withdrawn / banned / disqualified
  •     — Hosts

For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

FIFA World Cup

More information FIFA World Cup record, Team ...

AFC Asian Cup

More information AFC Asian Cup record, Team (Total 35 teams) ...

FIFA Women's World Cup

More information FIFA Women's World Cup record, Team ...

Olympic Games

Men's tournament

More information Olympic Games (Men's tournament) record, Team ...

Women's tournament

More information Olympic Games (Women's tournament) record, Team ...

AFC Women's Asian Cup

More information AFC Women's Asian Cup record, Team (Total 22 teams) ...

FIFA U-20 World Cup

More information FIFA U-20 World Cup record, Team ...

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

More information FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup record, Team ...

FIFA U-17 World Cup

More information FIFA U-17 World Cup record, Team ...

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

More information FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup record, Team ...

FIFA Futsal World Cup

More information FIFA Futsal World Cup record, Team ...

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

More information FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup record, Team ...

FIFA Confederations Cup

More information FIFA Confederations Cup record, Team ...
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See also

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Notes

  1. Also including some countries/territories in Oceania such as Australia, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
  2. also a FIFA Council Member
  3. Former member of the Oceania Football Confederation (1966–1972, 1978–2006), joined AFC.
  4. Oceania country or territory is a member of the Oceania National Olympic Committees rather than the Olympic Council of Asia.
  5. Macau's Olympic Committee is an OCA member but not an IOC member.
  6. Part of the United States Olympic Committee.
  7. Australia qualified for FIFA WC for six times, two as OFC member and four as AFC member.
  8. Indonesia competed as the Dutch East Indies in 1938.
  9. India failed to name the required 13 players and were unable to play their match of the group stage against Chinese Taipei due to them having fewer than 13 players left with the remaining team members testing positive for COVID-19. They were considered to have withdrawn from the tournament, and all previous matches played by them were considered "null and void" and would not be considered in determining the final group rankings.[30]

References

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