Asian Football Confederation

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of football in Asia. It runs the Asian Cup, a competition for the national football teams of Asia held every four years, as well as the Asian World Cup Qualifying Tournament.

Related Topics:
Football - Asia - Asian Cup - Asian World Cup Qualifying Tournament

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The AFC also runs three levels of annual international club competitions. The most prestigious (and oldest of the current AFC club competitions) is the AFC Champions League tournament, based on the UEFA Champions League, formed in 2002/03 with the amalgamation of the Asian Champions Cup and the Asian Cup Winners Cup. (An Asian Super Cup competition between the winners of these two major tournaments ended with the birth of the AFC Champions League.) The other competitions branched of this in 2004 when the 'Vision Asia' blueprint for development was launched. This led to the top fourteen AFC nations, the 'mature nations', sending their best teams to the AFC Champions League. The next 14 nations, the 'developing nations' qualify to send their teams to the AFC Cup. The rest of the AFC-affiliated countries, the 'emerging nations' send their teams to the AFC President's Cup. The teams which qualify from each country are usually the champions and the cup winners http://www.footballasia.com/en/news/index.asp?id=40247&sec=90&ssec=260&mth=7&yr=2005. Currently there is no promotion and relegation between the different levels of nations.

Related Topics:
AFC Champions League - UEFA Champions League - 2002 - 03 - Asian Champions Cup - Asian Cup Winners Cup - Asian Super Cup - 2004 - AFC Cup - AFC President's Cup

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The Asian Ladies Football Confederation is a sub-group of the AFC who manage women's football in Asia. The group was founded in April 1968 in a meeting involving Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. In 1986 the ALFC was merged into the AFC http://www.the-afc.com/english/goldenjubilee/default.asp?section=goldenjubilee&subsection=history. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation helped organise the AFC Women's Championship, first held in 1975, as well as the AFC's women's under-19 and the women's under-17 championships.

Related Topics:
Women's football - 1968 - Taiwan - Hong Kong - Malaysia - Singapore - 1986 - AFC Women's Championship - 1975 - Women's under-19 - Women's under-17

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From January 1 2006 Australia will become the 46th member of the AFC.

Related Topics:
January 1 - 2006 - Australia

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