Asian Football Trivia - Round Two

Published on: 24 June 2017

Kuala Lumpur: After the first midweek of summer without continental football draws to a close, the good news is that we’re now a week closer to the resumption of the AFC Champions League, the AFC Cup and the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Still need something to fill the time? Well, on the back of the Asian Football Trivia’s successful debut seven days ago, our weekly knowledge booster returns for Round Two with three of our readers’ questions from last time answered in comprehensive fashion.

After brushing up on your AFC knowledge, please send us more questions for next week via our social media handles and don’t forget to include the hashtag #AskAFC. Enjoy!

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A tricky task for the statisticians to get us started this week, but it’s teams from the West that dominate when it comes to most games played in the continent’s two biggest club competitions.

In the AFC Champions League, regular qualification since the inaugural tournament in 2002-03 sees Pakhtakor high up on the list with 79 games in total, while Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors’ 77 matches is the highest in the East.

However, two teams sit well clear of the aforementioned, with three-time finalists Al Ain’s 95 encounters underlining their status as continental giants. The outright winner, though, are Al Hilal, whose record 104 matches has surprisingly only included one final – a defeat to Western Sydney Wanderers in 2014.

The Saudi side remain in the hunt for the continent’s top prize this year, but first of all will have to overcome none other than, you’ve guessed it, Al Ain in the quarter-finals.

Al Hilal win in game number 104 to progress to the 2017 quarter-finals

Moving on to the AFC Cup, Kuwait SC are out in front with an outstanding record. Having not taken part in the competition until 2009, the Kuwaiti side then reached four finals in five years – winning three of them – and have now amassed 72 appearances in total.

An evergreen striker who still turns out for the strikingly green Jeonbuk, Lee Dong-gook’s 32 goals in the AFC Champions League leads the way in this category. At 38, the former Korea Republic international has had plenty of time to reach his number, with nine goals in the 2011 competition – when Jeonbuk finished runners-up to Al Sadd – bagging him the Top Scorer accolade. He also netted four in his side’s victorious 2016 campaign.

Three goals adrift of the prolific Lee sits Nasser Al Shamrani, the Saudi Arabia forward who has got on the scoresheet for Al Shabab, Al Hilal and Al Ain over the years. Currently at the latter on loan from Al Hilal, the striker is unlikely to feature at the end of August when the sides resume their personal feud to claim the bragging rights for the most appearance on the continent.

A further two behind on 27 is Dejan Damjanovic, FC Seoul’s Montenegrin hitman whose goals have primarily come for his current side, but also include two during a season with Beijing Guoan in 2015, before the forward returned to the Korean capital to become the highest scoring non-Asian on the list.

Elsewhere, former teammate Adriano netted a record-equalling 13 goals in one campaign in 2016 to tie with fellow Brazilian Muriqui, who helped fire Guangzhou Evergrande to the title in 2013.

FC Seoul’s prolific duo: Adriano and Damjanovic

Slightly less research involved but every bit as interesting, the Asian Football Confederation was inaugurated just over 63 years ago, on May 8, 1954. We all know that the AFC now has its head office in Kuala Lumpur but, in the early days, it was actually Manila where the confederation was formed.

AFC'S 63RD ANNIVERSARY: SEVEN EVENTS THAT SHAPED ASIAN FOOTBALL

Initially featuring 13 founding members – Afghanistan, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, Korea Republic, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and South Vietnam – the AFC now boast 47 nations, with the Northern Mariana Islands’ introduction in 2009 being the latest. Have a go at the remaining 33, or take the easy route and click on the link.

AFC MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS

Photos: Lagardère Sports

Source: the-afc.com

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