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[Awards Review]
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▶ AFC 2024 Year in Review
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[2024/12/22 ]
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With two FIFA tournaments won and another hosted, 2024 was very much Asia’s year at international level. On the continent, Qatar won a second Asian Cup title and Japan impressed in World Cup qualifiers.
Having won a pair of FIFA tournaments and hosted another, 2024 was very much Asia’s year. The intensity instigators from Korea DPR stunningly claimed both the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup™ and the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup™ within a span of two months, while Uzbekistan hosted a hugely successful FIFA Futsal World Cup™ later in the year.
 The region also took centre-stage in FIFA World Cup qualification, with more than 125 preliminaries played on the road to 2026 and Qatar made it back-to-back continental titles as they won the AFC Asian Cup on home soil in February.
Elsewhere, UAE powerhouse Al Ain FC won the AFC Champions League to join Al Hilal FC, Ulsan HD and Urawa Red Diamonds in qualifying for the FIFA Club World Cup™ while the Japanese men’s and women’s teams also impressed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
World Cup qualifying
From Amman and Abu Dhabi to Melbourne and Manila, it was a hectic period of AFC qualification for the FIFA World Cup™. In the space of a calendar year, the continent ploughed through the back end of the second round and then more than half of the third round of group stage action. A remarkable 126 matches were played in that span, in what was one of the busiest qualification periods in the region’s history.
The 36 nations that began the year with their World Cup dreams alive were reduced to half that number by the time September rolled around. With half a dozen of the ten final group stage fixtures in the books, IR Iran, Japan and Korea Republic remain undefeated and on course to secure qualification; a win for the Japanese when they host Bahrain in March will see them become the first non-host nation to punch a ticket to the finals.
As things stand, Jordan and Uzbekistan are in a strong position to reach a maiden World Cup, Indonesia and Iraq likewise for what would be just a second appearance. Group C is easily the tightest of the three sections, with only a single point splitting the second-placed Socceroos and China PR at the foot of the standings ahead of the final four fixtures, to be played in March and June of 2025.
Continental competitions
The title may have read ‘AFC Asian Cup 2023’ but with the dates of the continental finals flipping between mid-year and year-end, the most recent edition was played in Qatar from early January to early February.
While the group stage produced few shocks, the knockouts certainly did. Saudi Arabia fell in the round of 16, as did Australia, Japan and Uzbekistan in the quarters. Jordan, having never previously reached the semi-finals, were the fairytale story as they strode into the final on the back of starring roles from Yazan Al-Naimat and Mousa Al-Tamari.
There they would face an Akram Afif-inspired Qatar who proved too strong, the electric playmaker grabbing a hat-trick of penalties in the 3-1 win that secured a second straight title for Al-Annabi.
At club level, the final edition of the AFC Champions League prior to its current re-branding and re-formatting was won by UAE powerhouse Al Ain.
The Boss met an Al Hilal side, that were close to perfect in the 2023-24 season, in the semi-finals. Across 51 matches in the Saudi Pro League, the King’s Cup and the Champions League, Hilal lost just once. That was though a 4-2 first leg defeat in the semis that helped Al Ain book a spot in the final against Japanese side Yokohama F.Marinos. Having fallen 2-1 in the first leg in Japan, Al Ain were too strong in the reverse fixture, thrashing the J.League side 5-1 at home to claim a second continental title.
That also secured the club a spot, alongside Al Hilal, Ulsan HD and Urawa Red Diamonds, in the FIFA Club World Cup™ as well as the FIFA Intercontinental Cup™. At the latter tournament, Al Ain saw off Auckland City 6-2 in the play-offs before falling to Al Ahly 3-0 in the African-Asian-Pacific Cup in late October.
Standout players
Akram Afif (Qatar)
A nation’s talisman, tempo-setter, creator and finisher; 2024 was arguably the best on record for Qatar’s storied playmaker-in-chief. The top scorer and tournament MVP at the Asian Cup, Afif saved his best for last at the continental showpiece, scoring all three in Al Annabi’s takedown of Jordan in the final.
Mousa Al-Tamari (Jordan)
Jordan’s electric forward has gone from being a promising creative threat to a dominant one. He’s also added goalscoring and tempo-setting traits to a CV that’s taken him to the top tier of French club football and a dominant role for his national team. The driving force as Jordan stunned the continent by reaching a maiden Asian Cup final this year, the 27-year-old has also been on fire in World Cup qualification, bagging five late second round goals to help pilot Al Nashama into the third round.
Choe Il-son (Korea DPR)
Although her presence was somewhat dimmed at the U-17 Women’s World Cup, the Korea DPR forward was a powerhouse presence a month and a half earlier where she took the U-20 Women’s World Cup by storm. The teenager predator was on target in each of her nation’s three group stage outings before scoring the only goal of the game in both the semi-final and final in Colombia as she took home both the adidas Golden Ball and adidas Golden Boot gongs.
Aymen Hussein (Iraq)
Iraq’s old-school forward seems to be getting better with age. The powerful 28-year-old mixes a bruising penalty box presence with guile and touch and he was exceptional at an Asian Cup where he found the back of the net in each of his nation’s four matches.
What 2025 has in store
Late March and early June bring the final four matchdays of World Cup qualification where the six automatic entrants for the North American extravaganza will be confirmed. The fourth round, where a further two direct qualification tickets are available is also slated to begin in late 2025.
The first edition of the re-branded AFC Champions League Elite will be completed in mid-year with the league phase currently having two more matchdays to complete.
That quartet of powerhouse club sides, Al Ain, Al Hilal, Ulsan and Urawa will be flying the Asian flag at the inaugural edition of the expanded FIFA Club World Cup, which begins in the USA on 14 June.
Meanwhile, the inaugural edition of the AFC Women’s Champions League has wrapped up group play, with the quarter-finals, featuring clubs from Australia, China PR, Chinese Taipei, IR Iran, Japan, Korea Republic, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam, set to get under way in the new year.
It's also set to be a busy year at international level, with the AFC sending teams to the FIFA U-17 World Cup™, the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup™, the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup™, the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup™ and the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup™
Other successes
Asia had three representatives in the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament (Iraq, Japan and Uzbekistan) and two in the Women’s Tournament (Australia & Japan) with only Japan managing to make it out of the group. The men’s side fell 3-0 to Spain in the quarters while the women also departed at the same stage, losing on penalties to eventual champions USA.
The continent did though enjoy huge success at youth level, with Korea DPR winning the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup™ and the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup™ within a span of two months in the middle of the year.
In the younger category, hosted in the Dominican Republic, the Koreans marched through with five straight wins to a final appointment with Spain. There, adidas Golden Ball recipient Jon Il-chong was on target in a 1-1 regulation result that was settled 5-4 on penalties in Santo Domingo.
The U-20 side was arguably even more impressive in the finals in Colombia; playing some electrifying football mixed in with a run of unorthodox first-half tactical changes from coach Ri Song-ho.
Having steamrolled their way through the group, they then thrashed Austria and proved too good for heavyweights Brazil and USA to set-up an all-Asian final with fellow powerhouse nation Japan. It was fitting that the decider was settled by the tournament’s standout player, Choe Il-son, who won both the adidas Golden Ball and adidas Golden Boot.
Asia also took centre-stage as Uzbekistan became the fourth AFC nation to host the FIFA Futsal World Cup™ in September. Unfortunately, none of the quintet of qualified teams managed to progress beyond the round of 16 at the tournament won by Brazil.
Finally, Afif was crowned the AFC's Men's Player of the Year and Japanese forward Kiko Seike was awarded the Women's Player of the Year at the confederation's annual awards presentation in Seoul in late October.
- The origianl text resource is from FIFA Official Website |
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