Kuala Lumpur: J.League champions Sanfrecce Hiroshima winning bronze medal at the FIFA Club World Cup last weekend in Japan has served as a fitting conclusion to what has been yet another phenomenal year for Asian football, twelve scintillating months that have seen everything from history being made to the continuing evolution of the club game throughout the continent.
Asian football fans the world over couldn’t have asked for a better start to the year, with the Confederation’s flagship tournament - the AFC Asian Cup - kicking things off in style.
Australia hosted one of the finest editions in the tournament’s illustrious history, one which saw the Socceroos defeat Korea Republic in a pulsating final to conclude an event that saw the 2015 AFC Asian Cup set numerous records and milestones.
The competition itself set a record for the most consecutive matches at a major football tournament without a draw - the run of 26 eclipsing the previous record of 18 set at the 1930 FIFA World Cup in Uruguay; UAE striker Ali Mabkhout found the net after just 14 seconds to score the fastest Asian Cup goal ever; and Australia became the first men’s national team to win continental titles in two FIFA confederations having also won the OFC (Oceania Football Confederation) Nations Cup on a number of occasions.
Australia’s triumph also saw them become the first country to simultaneously hold the AFC Asian Cup and AFC Champions League titles, although Western Sydney Wanderers grip on the coveted ACL title would slip in the group stage of this year’s edition of Asia’s premier club competition which, alongside the AFC Cup, embraced a greater number of Member Associations following a significant revamp of the Confederation’s tournaments.
Following the AFC Asian Cup, many of the continent’s finest players returned to their club sides and the preliminary rounds, play-offs, group stage and Round of 16 matches entertained fans up until May before the action resumed in August with not only the quarter-finals of both club competitions, but the qualifying competition for the 2016 AFC Cup at which Bangladesh’s Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi and K-Electric FC of Pakistan advanced to the qualifying round.
The qualifiers for the 2016 AFC U23 Championship also took place, with March’s matches completing the line-up for next year’s eagerly anticipated continental tournament in Qatar.
The Gulf emirate also hosted the AFC Beach Soccer Championship, Oman defeating Japan in the final and former champions Iran finishing third to represent Asia’s trio at the 2015 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Portugal in July.
The global beach soccer tournament was not the only major FIFA event to feature in the month of July with Japan finishing runners-up at June/July’s 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Despite Japan falling at the final hurdle against the USA, the Women’s World Cup was another feather in the cap for the Asian women’s game, with Australia and China reaching the quarter-finals in Canada and Thailand giving an impressive showing in their tournament debut.
While the progress of the senior women’s game was clear to see at the World Cup, the considerable developments in women’s youth football also stood out in 2015.
Narumi Miura scored the decisive spot-kick as Japan won the AFC U-19 Women's Championship after a dramatic 4-2 penalty shootout victory over DPR Korea in the final in August, before the North Koreans denied the Japanese a continental youth double as Ri Hae-yon claimed the only goal of the game to give her side victory over the defending champions in November’s 2015 AFC Women’s U-16 Championship final.
Vietnam remained on the road to Rio after finishing top of the five-team table in the Second Round of qualifiers as the 2014 AFC Women’s Asian Cup hosts joined reigning Asian champions Japan, runners-up Australia, DPR Korea, China, and Korea Republic in the Qualification Final Round. The top two sides will go on to represent Asia at the women’s football tournament of the 2016 Olympic Games.
Also in September, history was made when the AFC became the first confederation to host a continental tournament in women’s futsal as Nilai in Malaysia played host to the inaugural AFC Women’s Futsal Championship.
Fereshteh Karimi’s eighth minute goal saw Iran defeat Japan 1-0 in a tightly-fought decider to become the first-ever champions to ensure Iranian futsal fans had more to celebrate in 2015 after Tasisat Daryaei won the 2015 AFC Futsal Club Championship final. Inspired by world futsal legend Vahid Shamsaee, who would emerge top scorer and MVP, Tasisat capped a superb campaign by defeating Kuwait’s Qadsia 5-4 in a thrilling finale and became the first Iranian club since 2012 to win the popular annual tournament.
Qadsia fans were to have even more disappointment when FIFA handed the Kuwait FA a suspension for governmental interference which denied the club’s senior football team and compatriots Kuwait SC the chance to build on their commanding semi-final first-leg advantages and set up an all-Kuwaiti final that would have seen the AFC Cup in the hands of a club from the West Asian nation for the final for the fifth time in seven years.
The manner of how they got to the final should, however, in no way detract from the superb campaigns fought by Malaysia’s Johor Daru Ta’zim (JDT) and tournament debutants FC Istiklol, who both advanced to the final as a result of the disqualification of the Kuwaiti sides.
In a close encounter at a packed Republican Central Stadium in the Tajikistan capital Dushanbe, JDT overcame a partisan crowd and a dominant home side to edge Istiklol 1-0 and become the first Malaysian club to claim a continental title with a 1-0 win.
It was also a tight finish to Asia’s premier club competition the AFC Champions League as the curtain came down on an action-packed season of scintillating football over the full spectrum of the game in the continent, with Guangzhou Evergrande defeating Al Ahli 1-0 over two legs of an entertaining 2015 ACL final, claiming the AFC Champions League trophy for the second time following their 2013 triumph.
The end of the continental club showpiece provided a timely platform for the AFC Annual Awards 2015 which took place in New Delhi, India, as Al Ahli’s Ahmed Khalil bagged the AFC Player of the Year award, in the process becoming only the third person to have received the senior and youth individual accolades having also won the 2008 AFC Youth Player of the Year prize.
Australia head coach Ange Postecoglou won the AFC Coach of the Year accolade while Japan’s Asako Takakura was crowned the AFC Women’s Coach of the Year. The awards gala also saw Guangzhou winning the AFC Club of the Year award.
The year came to an end with nail-biting suspense at the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup in Yokohama, Japan, as a second-half double from Douglas saw Sanfrecce Hiroshima come from a goal down to defeat reigning AFC Champions League champions Guangzhou Evergrande 2-1 to finish third.
In doing so, Sanfrecce became the fifth Asian side to claim the bronze medal in the tournament, following in the footsteps of fellow Japanese sides Urawa Red Diamonds and Gamba Osaka.
The world clubs tournament witnessed another encouraging milestone, this one for Asian referees, as the Iranian refereeing trio led by Alireza Faghani oversaw the adrenaline-charged final match between eventual champions Barcelona and South American champions River Plate.
Photo: FIFA/Getty Images & Lagardère Sports
Source: the-afc.com