Asian Football Confederation

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  The Asian Football Confederation was founded in 1954 by thirteen nations. Together they represented a continent reaching from the Middle East to the Pacific. That founding group included Afghanistan, Israel, Japan, the Philippines, and Singapore. Today the AFC has 47 member associations. It governs association football, beach soccer, and futsal across an enormous and politically complex region. How does one body hold together nations as geographically distant as Kuwait and Guam? What happens when political reality forces founding members out of the confederation entirely? And how has the AFC's mandate expanded far beyond its original brief? Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa currently leads the AFC as its president. He also holds the position of Senior Vice President at FIFA, making the AFC a significant power in the global game.

  16713

• 2. A Continent of Five Regions

  ›

  Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands share the AFC's East subregion with China, Japan, and South Korea. That pairing illustrates the practical geography of the confederation's structure. Five subregions divide the AFC's membership into manageable zones, each covering a broad area of the continent. The Central subregion groups six nations: four former Soviet republics of Central Asia, plus Afghanistan and Iran. The West subregion draws together twelve Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Iraq. The South East subregion takes in eleven ASEAN nations and also includes Australia. The South subregion brings five Indian subcontinent nations together with the Maldives and Sri Lanka. The Northern Mariana Islands hold an AFC affiliation dating from 2020 but carry no FIFA affiliation at all.

  11213

• 3. The Women's Game

  ›

  In April 1968, representatives from Taiwan, British Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore gathered to found the Asian Ladies Football Confederation. That body was independent of the AFC from the start, a separation that lasted until 1986. That year, the two organizations merged, bringing women's football under the AFC's jurisdiction for the first time. The AFC Women's Asian Cup, contested every four years, has since drawn 23 different national teams across its history. The AFC Women's Champions League launched in the 2024-25 season, the newest addition to the confederation's competition calendar.

  82027

• 4. The Tournament Pyramid

  ›

  The AFC Asian Cup, held every four years, stands as the pinnacle of men's national team competition across the continent. The confederation runs a full ladder of club competitions alongside it. At the top sits the AFC Champions League Elite. It combines three older tournaments: the Asian Club Championship, the Asian Cup Winners' Cup, and the Asian Super Cup. Entry into the Elite is determined by each country's ranking in the AFC's club competition standings. Below the Elite sit the AFC Champions League Two and the AFC Challenge League, both revamped and rebranded in 2024. Al Ahli won the 2025-26 AFC Champions League Elite, with Machida Zelvia finishing as runners-up. Nagoya Oceans won the AFC Futsal Club Championship in 2019; the next edition is scheduled for 2027.

  9262220

• 5. Members Who Left

  ›

  Arab nations within the West Asian Football Federation refused to play matches against Israel. That boycott ended with Israel's departure from the AFC in 1974. Israel was later admitted to UEFA and became a full UEFA member in 1994. Kazakhstan presents a different case: it held AFC membership from 1993 to 2002, when it transferred to UEFA. New Zealand was an AFC member only in 1964. It became a founding member of the Oceania Football Confederation in 1966 and never returned. South Vietnam, recorded as VSO in AFC records, was an original member of the confederation. It held that membership until 1975, when it unified with North Vietnam to form a single side. South Yemen presents a parallel case: it held AFC membership from 1972 until 1990, when it unified with North Yemen.

  1116181917

• 6. The Digital Game

  ›

  At the 2023 AFC eAsian Cup, Indonesia took the title in eFootball 2024. The winning players were Mohamad Akbar Paudie, Elga Cahya Putra, and Rizky Faidan. Japan finished as runners-up, with Satake Shinichi, Aihara Tsubasa, and Hashiki Shumpei representing them. The AFC eAsian Cup is the confederation's dedicated esports competition for national teams. A second esports event, the AFC eChampions League Elite, runs at the club level. In 2025, Al Nassr defeated Persepolis to claim the AFC eChampions League Elite, with matches played on eFootball 2025. The 2026 edition of the AFC eChampions League Elite is already scheduled.

  2324