About the future of the Asian Cup (your opinion)

[Surenas]

So, now we have the first gameday of the Asian Cup and I wanted to hear a résumé from you. First of all my view of things.

On the positive side, this Asian Championship surprised me so far that many underdogs (including us) played pretty well, especially India, Turkmenistan (1st half), Philippines, Kyrgyzstan.

But even teams which play mediocre football showed a very positive development like Jordan, I'm really curious what they'll show us in the course of the tournament.

Nevertheless, I have to say something, which worries me about this beautiful tournament. I love the Asian Cup, it's the most colorful tournament in the world, from West Asia to East Asia to Australia, and yet there are huge differences in the level of this tournament. This is bad for the weaker teams, as it's very difficult for them to get past the "Big 4" Iran, Japan, Australia and the Republic of Korea. But for us this is also a problem our football can not develop well, because the really heavy caliber rarely meet us.
I think the expansion to 24 teams and a 1/8 final is quite positive, but some teams are overwhelmed in this tournament (partly Thailand, Vietnam (2nd half), Korea DPR, Palestine, Lebanon etc.)

If these teams did not come up, maybe Tajikestan, Taiwan, Myanmar would be there. Of course I love such exotic teams, but they also drop the level of this tournament. This brings us to the second problem, even in the 5th German League (no joke) are more visitors in the stadiums. I find it bad that so few fans come at a continental tournament, but if we see matches like Philippines against Kyrgyzstan next match day, that is also understandable without being arrogant.

What I want to know is, what do you think about using a similar system like in the Copa America in Asia and using a certain contingent and inviting teams which are not in the AFC? I am thinking of three teams that have a connection to Asia: Russia, Turkey and Egypt. What would you think of the idea if these three teams would attend an Asian Championship as guests in a fictitious future, or even host the tournament in a country like Turkey? Let me know what you think.

[KC McElroy]

So, now we have the first gameday of the Asian Cup and I wanted to hear a résumé from you. First of all my view of things.
On the positive side, this Asian Championship surprised me so far that many underdogs (including us) played pretty well, especially India, Turkmenistan (1st half), Philippines, Kyrgyzstan.
But even teams which play mediocre football showed a very positive development like Jordan, I'm really curious what they'll show us in the course of the tournament.
Nevertheless, I have to say something, which worries me about this beautiful tournament. I love the Asian Cup, it's the most colorful tournament in the world, from West Asia to East Asia to Australia, and yet there are huge differences in the level of this tournament. This is bad for the weaker teams, as it's very difficult for them to get past the "Big 4" Iran, Japan, Australia and the Republic of Korea. But for us this is also a problem our football can not develop well, because the really heavy caliber rarely meet us.
I think the expansion to 24 teams and a 1/8 final is quite positive, but some teams are overwhelmed in this tournament (partly Thailand, Vietnam (2nd half), Korea DPR, Palestine, Lebanon etc.)
If these teams did not come up, maybe Tajikestan, Taiwan, Myanmar would be there. Of course I love such exotic teams, but they also drop the level of this tournament. This brings us to the second problem, even in the 5th German League (no joke) are more visitors in the stadiums. I find it bad that so few fans come at a continental tournament, but if we see matches like Philippines against Kyrgyzstan next match day, that is also understandable without being arrogant.
What I want to know is, what do you think about using a similar system like in the Copa America in Asia and using a certain contingent and inviting teams which are not in the AFC? I am thinking of three teams that have a connection to Asia: Russia, Turkey and Egypt. What would you think of the idea if these three teams would attend an Asian Championship as guests in a fictitious future, or even host the tournament in a country like Turkey? Let me know what you think.

Not a good idea as they will probably win it as a guest and make Asia look bad.

[Azeem98]

I hate inviting teams. Only thing that i would want is to move the competition in the summer after the World Cup. I'm sure coping with the hot weather in some countries won't be an impossible task if held in such places

[Surenas]

I hate inviting teams. Only thing that i would want is to move the competition in the summer after the World Cup. I'm sure coping with the hot weather in some countries won't be an impossible task if held in such places

Yea, I'll understand what you mean, but it's not like we would invite a Team like Brazil, especially Turkey and Egypt are part of the Middle East and integral parts of Western Asia at least.

Not a good idea as they will probably win it as a guest and make Asia look bad.

Maybe, but it's not like they're so for away from the Top 4, all of them are beatable for Iran, Japan, South Korea or Australia.
Just think about a quarter finals with Russia, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, South Korea, Australia, Japan, (Team X). Looks like quality, I wouldn't be scared, Iran could beat them all.
Just imagine the coverage having Mo Salah in the Asian Cup, I mean, they don't even broadcast the Asian Cup here in Europe, it's a shame.

[KC McElroy]

Yea, I'll understand what you mean, but it's not like we would invite a Team like Brazil, especially Turkey and Egypt are part of the Middle East and integral parts of Western Asia at least.

Maybe, but it's not like they're so for away from the Top 4, all of them are beatable for Iran, Japan, South Korea or Australia.
Just think about a quarter finals with Russia, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, South Korea, Australia, Japan, (Team X). Looks like quality, I wouldn't be scared, Iran could beat them all.
Just imagine the coverage having Mo Salah in the Asian Cup, I mean, they don't even broadcast the Asian Cup here in Europe, it's a shame.

Asian teams will still have a chance but if an outsider wins it it's a huge embarrassment and not worth the risk of inviting them.

[forzatm]

Not a good idea as they will probably win it as a guest and make Asia look bad.

Russia - they usually suck and overperformed in 2018 thanks to doping
Egypt - lost to Saudi and our Egyptian friend kastro disappeared after the match
Turkey - couldn't get out of the group stage in a 24-team Euro.

[KC McElroy]

Russia - they usually suck and overperformed in 2018 thanks to doping
Egypt - lost to Saudi and our Egyptian friend kastro disappeared after the match
Turkey - couldn't get out of the group stage in a 24-team Euro.

Egypt is correct. The other two would do better than Asian teams most of the time.

[Kavian]

Asia is uniquely positioned and in my opinion it has a tremendous opportunity to grow and establish itself as a upcoming power in the world of football.

Thanks to huge investments by the oil-rich Arab countries, China, Japan, and Korea, Asia is currently enjoying access to top notch stadiums and perhaps the best hosting facilities for high level tournaments. Something Africa and South American don't have and the rest of the federations are finding it more difficult to justify the investment. I think the next step for Asia should be an expanding strategy to add to its membership. The decision by Australia to join Asian federation was a great step and we can also see how much that has added to the quality of the game already. I hope New Zealand can follow suit. Incorporating countries in Caucuses (Armenia, Former Iranian/CCCP Azerbaijan, Georgia), Kazakhstan, and even bringing back Israel (should the crazy world of middle east can come to terms with itself), would make Asian football a booming sport with great commercial impact for all participants. It will also help to bring this continent closer to each other and establish peace and tranquility. That said, not sure if the backward Arab owners of AFC have that kind of vision. We shall see...

[EKBATAN]

attendance is a problem. Asia is so big and not everyone can afford travel so often attendance is really bad. Especially in places like UAE or Qatar that dont have a population. you would think Iran games would be packed but even our game was empty. Australia one was a decent one

[enikoravesh]

FANS: bro asia is huge, and plus theres no minimum wage in asia unlike europe, so even the poor europeans are rich to support their teams plus you got the good transportation system in europe (visa free travel between neighbouring countries , trains, distance etc..)
FANS: football is just getting more popular with nations like INDIA / Philipines / china / Australia ..
FANS: 1 thing that is important is they need a FAN TEAM LEADER. either the national team or some die hard crazy fan needs to create a huge base of havadaran where they all travel together and be together as one. for instance look at URAWA RED DRAGONS, when they came to tehran, even though it was nothing compared to the PES supporters, they still could truly be heard and there was a good amount of them that traveled! i was actually really proud of them!
AFC: Im actually very positive about Asian football. I really love the football in Asia because it is developing and developing rapidly, i even think that it was a damn good idea to increase the teams for the AFC, it will bring more football fans in Asia in particularly south east asia to actually support their national team more instead of some british team they never seen.. I think that Asia is heading the right direction, AFC needs to get rid of the arab presidents and bring in a Japanese that will revamp the whole system and put some order in place. im not being biasedabout this but its honestly true, the only true leadership in asian people is that of a japanese and a japanese has never been president of the AFC.
INVITING TEAMS : I am for that in 8 years time. Turkey / russia / kazakhstan / armenia / new zealand / azairbaijan / georgia / egypt

[Ali Doust]

The only team I wold invite is Israel. That would spice up things! Imagine Israel vs Palestine. Talk about El Classico.