FIFA Affiliated Confederation: Asian Football Confederation

The initials AFC means several other things on the Internet.

One of such meanings is the Africa Finance Corporation, AFC.

However, the AFC that I want to write about is the Asian Football Confederation.

The Asian Football Confederation, AFC, is a soccer-governing body that oversees the organisation and management of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in Asia and Australia.

It is a merger of AFC and 1968 independently formed Asian Ladies Football Confederation, ALFC.

MEMBERSHIP

Are you not surprised to see Australia as part of the AFC?

“Why is Australia mentioned in the definition of AFC?” you might ask, considering the fact that Australia is on a different continent, and not geographically located in the Asian continent.

Here’s the answer to this question.

Australia was formerly a member of the Oceania Football Confederation, OFC.

It, however, applied to join AFC in 2006 and was granted permission to do so by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, FIFA, the world football governing body.

The same thing is applicable to several other countries, including Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkey.

While Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, which are part of the United States, are members of AFC; Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkey, which are partly Asia and Partly Europe belong to the Union of European Football Associations, UEFA.

The case of Israel, which is geographically located in the Asian continent, is different. 

Israel was a former member of AFC, by virtue of its location in Asia, but was expelled from AFC in 1974, for political reasons, and later joined UEFA, where it belongs at the present moment.

The Asian Football Confederation, AFC, has 47 member associations, which are divided into five different regions.

Below are the member associations of AFC in their different regions, along with their individual country codes:

West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) (1)

BHR    Bahrain          

IRQ     Iraq    

JOR     Jordan

KUW  Kuwait          

LBN    Lebanon        

OMA   Oman

PLE     Palestine        

QAT    Qatar 

KSA    Saudi Arabia 

SYR    Syria  

UAE    United Arab Emirates           

YEM   Yemen           

Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) (6)

AFG    Afghanistan  

IRN     Islamic Republic of Iran       

KGZ    Kyrgyz Republic       

TJK     Tajikistan       

TKM   Turkmenistan

UZB    Uzbekistan    

South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) (7)

BAN   Bangladesh   

BHU   Bhutan          

IND     India  

MDV   Maldives       

NEP       Nepal           

PAK    Pakistan         

SRI      Sri Lanka      

ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) (12)

AUS    Australia

BRU    Brunei Darussalam    

CAM   Cambodia      

IDN     Indonesia      

LAO    Laos  

MAS   Malaysia        

MYA   Myanmar       

PHI     Philippines     

SIN     Singapore      

THA    Thailand        

TLS     Timor-Leste   

VIE     Vietnam        

East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) (10)

CHN   China PR       

TPE     Chinese Taipei

PRK    DPR Korea    

GUM   Guam

HKG   Hong Kong   

JPN     Japan 

KOR   Korea Republic         

MAC   Macau

MNG   Mongolia       

NMI    Northern Mariana Islands     

COMPETITIONS

The Asian Football Confederation, AFC, organises and manages several soccer competitions and events, including the following:

• AFC Asian Cup
• AFC Solidarity Cup
• FIFA World Cup qualification
• AFC Asian Cup qualification
• Asian Games men’s football tournament
• AFC U-23 Asian Cup
• AFC U-20 Asian Cup
• AFC U-17 Asian Cup
• Asian Youth Games boys’ football tournament
• AFC Futsal Asian Cup, Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games men’s futsal tournament
• AFC U-20 Futsal Asian Cup
• AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup
• Asian Beach Games men’s beach soccer tournament
• AFC Women’s Asian Cup
• Asian Games women’s football tournament
• AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament
• AFC U-20 Women’s Asian Cup
• AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup
• AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup
• Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games women’s futsal tournament
• AFC Asian Cup, AFC Women’s Asian Cup
• AFC Solidarity Cup
• AFC Futsal Asian Cup
• AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup
• AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup, as well as 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.

FIFA Affiliated Confederation: Asian Football Confederation. THE END.

By Rosemary Duncan (Ms.)

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