Asian Football Confederation Research Articles

Aboriginal Football in Australia: Race Relations and the Socio-Historical Meanings of the 2014 Borroloola Tour to the Brazil World Cup

This paper tells the history of the Borroloola Tour to the 2014 Brazil World Cup, when eight Aboriginal adolescent footballers from the remote town of Borroloola in Australia’s Northern Territory were selected to be part of a tour to Brazil. In Brazil they followed the Australian team from the stands, socialized with football idols such as Tim Cahill, and visited a Brazilian Indigenous tribe. John Moriarty, the first Aboriginal Australian to be selected to Australia’s national football team executed this excursion. Considering that race relations within the Australian sporting arena have historically, been tense and contested, this paper brings to light an under-explored aspect of football in Australia. It is timely too, given the insertion of Australian football within the Asian Football Confederation. The paper examines the historical meanings of the Borroloola Tour through the lens of its key participants; as well as by unveiling John Moriarty’s history as the first Aboriginal person to be selected to play for the Socceroos. In conclusion, it reveals that both the past and contemporary history of Aboriginal people’s involvement in Australian football has an emerging face that will shape football in Australia and in Asia in the coming years.

Gulf Autocrats and Sports Corruption: A Marriage Made in Heaven

Arab politics have been written into the DNA of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) since the expulsion of Israel in 1974. The expulsion like that of Taiwan underscored the incestuous relationship between politics and sport, most prevalent in the Middle East and North Africa. World soccer body FIFA’s failure to act on threats to sanction the AFC for violating the charters of FIFA and the AFC with the expulsions shaped global soccer’s attitude towards autocratic regimes. In the Middle East and North Africa, FIFA and the AFC’s refusal to impose adherence to their rules amounted to support for autocratic rule in a soccer-crazy region where rulers see the game as a key to exercising control of public space and an institution that evokes deep-seated passions. Their refusal has had far-reaching consequences for governance, certainly since 2002, when Mohammed Bin Hammam became AFC president until he was banned by FIFA from involvement in soccer 11 years later and under the reign of his successor, Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa. Their governance and that of Kuwait’s Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, one of the most powerful men in international sports, reflects the authoritarian traits of the societies they hail from.

Asia and the future of football: the role of the Asian Football Confederation

"Asia and the future of football: the role of the Asian Football Confederation." Asia Pacific Journal of Sport and Social Science, 5(3), pp. 263–264

An Adolescent Sport Team Management During a Natural Disaster; Report on the Field.

The team physician has a major role in managing medical problems of a travelling adolescent team (1-3). In addition to the normal responsibilities, unexpected disasters could always be a challenge. A natural disaster can be defined as any multiple casualty incident that overwhelms the response capabilities of the available resources (4). On 25 April 2015 at 11:56 local time, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal (5) during AFC U-14 (The Asian football confederation, under 14 years old) girls regional football championship. Dozens of aftershocks followed, including a 6.7 magnitude earthquake on 26th April 2015 at 12:54 local time. The earthquake resulted in 8,604 casualties (6, 7). The Iranian national football team participated in AFC U-14 girls regional championship 20th-26th April 2015, and the author was the team physician of the Iranian team at the time. To my knowledge, there is just one article on role of medical directors in natural disasters occurring for travelling teams which has been published after the recent earthquake in Nepal (8). There are few articles available to discuss what a team physician will face in a national disaster during a sport event. The main focus of this topic is to make a better view of what a team will confront during an earthquake and which decisions could be more appropriate as a team physician.

Scoring on and off the field?: The impact of Australia's inclusion in the Asian Football Confederation

The case follows Australia's move from the Oceania Football Federation (OFC) to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The case explores the impact of Australia's inclusion on other AFC member nations and highlights that Australia's relative success in the AFC may not be perceived as positive by all stakeholders within the AFC. The case considers the effect of Australia's inclusion in the AFC on the AFC in general, and also on both the sport of soccer in Australia, and the broader Australian economy.

Developing a sustainable football model with the AFC Vision Asia Philosophy - two grassroots development cases in Zibo and Qingdao

Football development in China has been going through the process of reform alongside the gradually relaxed state control and rapid growth of its economy. As a direct result, the top level football has been commercialized and professionalized from the state amateur model with a market approach, the fully funded state academies are dissolved. Due to lack of the community-based club football culture, grassroots football is very difficult to develop without the government involvement. This article looks at two different development cases at the grassroots level through the researcher’s own work experience with the Asian Football Confederation in two Chinese cities; the report is not only to shed some light on particular local football development programmes, but also to provide an opportunity for discussion of the game’s sustainable development models under China’s market economy.

Leveraging events to ensure enduring benefits: The legacy strategy of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup is the largest soccer event on the Asian continent. Australia hosted the 2015 AFC Asian Cup which provided the nation with an opportunity to not only celebrate the sport of soccer, but also leverage the event to deliver enduring legacies. This case study examines the three key legacies of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup which were tourism, trade and investment, and multicultural engagement, and considers the leveraging strategies that were implemented to achieve the stated legacies.

Asian Football: A Cesspool of Government Interference, Struggles for Power, Corruption, and Greed

Arab politics have been written into the DNA of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) starting with the expulsion of Israel in 1974. The expulsion like that of Taiwan the same year underscored the incestuous relationship between politics and sport that is among the most prevalent in the Middle East and North Africa despite self-serving denials by the high and mighty of regional and international sports. A failure by world soccer body FIFA in the cases of both Israel and Taiwan to follow through on threats to sanction the AFC for violating the charters of the world and Asian soccer body with the expulsions has shaped global soccer's attitude towards autocratic regimes. In the Middle East and North Africa, FIFA's and the AFC's refusal to insist on adherence by national associations to their principles, rules, and regulations amounted to effective support for autocratic rule in a soccer crazy region where rulers see the game as a key tool to retain power by exercising absolute control of public space and an institution that evokes deep-seated passions.

Push-and-Run between Power, Participation and Performance: Political Playmaking and the Tactics of the Asian Football Confederation

In the wake of the nomination of Qatar as host country for the World Cup 2022 and the subsequent debate on ethical and organizational aspects of running world football, more public attention has been drawn to actors that play an important role in the politically, economically, and culturally globalized ‘game’ of football. Journalists, academics, and fans have therefore spotlighted the significance of sport governing bodies in the context of aspects relating to power, profit, participation, and performance. This article provides an insight into the significance of political issues in sport in general and particularly with regard to football in Asia and the role of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Referring to the political processes within the football system as well as the political relations between non-governmental, governmental, and business actors this analysis produces an account of the complexity of football politics. Under consideration of three theoretical perspectives – globalization, neo-institutionalism, and governance – the paper assesses the AFC as Glocal Player, Corporate Actor, and Skilful Negotiator.

Asia's Land Down Under: the Socceroos and the 2015 Asian Cup

On 31 January 2015, Australia's men's association football team (the Socceroos) won the Asian Cup for the first time, beating South Korea 2-1 after extra time in the final match played at Stadium Australia in Sydney. The victory in Sydney was a major milestone in two long-running processes – first, the ever closer relationship between Australia and Asia; second, the evolving status in Australian society of football, or ‘soccer’. In terms of assessing Australia's status as Asian, although part of the problem may lie with the Asian Football Confederation's definition of Asia, it is membership of that federation that has done more than any amount of trade relations and labour migration to give global public credence to the idea that Australia is possibly Asian, and almost certainly Asian-Pacific.

The Scales of Asian Football Confederation and the Success of Countries’ Representatives in Asian Champions League

Nowadays, the International Federation of Football (FIFA) has 208 members, and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is responsible for organizing and developing football as the most important organization in the old continent. Asian Champions League (ACL) is a football high level competition in Asia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the criteria of AFC and the success of countries’ representatives in ACL. This study was casual-comparative and applied. The statistical population included 32 clubs that participated in the 10th preliminary round of ACL. The statistical sample consisted of 11 countries which have representatives in this event. The data gathered from official website of AFC (www.the-afc.com), and the official magazine of Iran Pro League Federation “The Vision of Soccer”. For analysing the data, we utilized K-S, Pearson Correlation Coefficient and Stepwise Multi Regression. The results indicated that there was a significant positive relationship between AFC criteria and the success of countries’ representative in Asian Champions League (ACL). Also, technical standards predict the success of countries’ representative in ACL significantly (p < 0.0001, β = 0.88). It seems that more attention to the technical standards will bring better results for the next seasons.

Australia, Asia and the new football opportunity

After numerous attempts to join the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Australia finally became a member in 2006 and was immediately re-designated from ‘Oceanic’ to ‘Asian’. In examining the impact of this move, we contextualize it within Australia’s broader economic and socio-cultural shift from its British roots to an increasing economic enmeshment with Asia. Australia’s AFC membership coincided with football’s corporatization locally, exemplified in the A-League’s establishment. This altered the dynamics of identity politics in Australian football shifting the game at the elite level from its multicultural roots to a corporate assimilationist model and generating debate surrounding the very essence of multiculturalism. We show this move was a necessary pre-condition to Australia joining the AFC. We assess whether this complex interplay of politics, national identity and regionalism has facilitated any paradigm shift in Australian attitudes towards Asia; or was the move based on Australian football’s opportunistic quest for bigger market?

Reflections on Race, Regionalism and Geopolitical Trends via Australian Soccer

In 2006, the Football Federation of Australia moved from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was hoped that the move would improve the standard of Australian football and improve competitiveness in international tournaments, such as the FIFA World Cup. Australia's original bid to join the AFC was denied in 1964, leading them to form the OCF with New Zealand in 1966. This paper examines how dealings with the AFC and Asia more broadly are articulations of Australia's shifting understanding of race, culture and geopolitical belonging. Soccer presents both Australia and Asia with a unique opportunity to find some shared cultural ground to strengthen and stabilise their existing economic and political relationship.

‘The Future is Asia'? The Role of the Asian Football Confederation inthe Governance and Development of Football in Asia

In accordance with its slogan ‘The Future is Asia’, the Asian Football Confederation initiated the Vision Asia football development programme in 2003. Focusing on marketing, grass roots, coach education, referees, sports medicine, men's competitions, women's competitions, futsal, media, and fans, it is claimed to be a comprehensive complement to FIFA's Goal Project. Furthermore the AFC has introduced a financial aid programme called AID27 and its social responsibility campaign titled Dream Asia focusing on utilising football as vehicle for achieving development, peace and social justice. Aimed at exploring the role of the football governing body AFC in the transnational governance and development of football in Asia in the context of a globalised game, this article provides an overview of the history of the AFC and its political relations with FIFA and Asian member associations. In addition it contains an analysis of the AFC's institutional structure, its policies and network relations. Accordingly thearticle implies a description of how specifically the AID27 and Vision Asia programmes are aimed at developing and increasing the standards of Asian football.

What League? The Representation of Female Athletes in Australian Television Sports Coverage

This article explores why women's sport in Australia still struggles to attract sponsorship and mainstream media coverage despite evidence of high levels of participation and on-field successes. Data are drawn from the largest study of Australian print and television coverage of female athletes undertaken to date in Australia, as well as from a case study examining television coverage of the success of the Matildas, the Australian women's national football team, in winning the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Asian Cup in 2010. This win was not only the highest ever accolade for any Australian national football team (male or female), but also guaranteed the Matildas a place in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany [where they reached the quarter-finals]. Given the close association between success on the field, sponsorship and television exposure, this article focuses specifically on television reporting. We present evidence of the starkly disproportionate amounts of coverage across this section of the news media, and explore the circular link between media coverage, sponsorship and the profile of women's sport.

Coming in from the margins: ethnicity, community support and the rebranding of Australian soccer

Soccer in Australia exists at the margin of the professional sport landscape, although it enjoys popularity at the development levels. This historic position is the result of many social and political forces. With four football codes operating in Australia, amongst other elite and professional sport teams and leagues, soccer occupied a troubled position. The sustenance and growth of the sport emanates from a strong ethnic, immigrant basis of soccer, but this base also resulted in further marginalization of the code. Add to these difficulties organizational and governance issues, soccer was a management ‘basket‐case’ for some time. Marginalization in the Oceania federation and questionable qualifying processes for the World Cup exacerbated the problems in Australian soccer. This essay traces the various changes to soccer in Australia as it seeks to move into the mainstream of national and international sport. A reorganized national sport governing body, the Football Federation of Australia, a new national professional competition in the A‐League, new television revenues, and membership in the Asian Football Confederation point to the changes that will lead Australian soccer into the mainstream of the ‘world game’.