List Of Top-division Football Clubs In AFC Countries
This is a list of top-division association football clubs in AFC countries. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) includes all Asian countries except Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan and Turkey as members, but also includes the Oceanian countries of Australia, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands (the association of the Northern Mariana Islands is a provisional associate member of AFC but not a member of FIFA).
The football associations of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan and Turkey are members of UEFA, the European football confederation (Israel and Kazakhstan were previously AFC members but had left). Hong Kong and Macau, the special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, have their own football associations which are members of AFC. The Republic of China (called Chinese Taipei in the international sports community) and Palestine, both members of the IOC but not the UN, also have their own football associations which are members of AFC.
Each of the AFC member countries have their own football league systems. The clubs playing in each top-level league compete for the title as the country's club champions, and also for places in next season's AFC club competitions, i.e., the AFC Champions League, the AFC Cup, and the AFC President's Cup. Due to promotion and relegation, the clubs playing in the top-level league are different every season; however, some league systems (such as Australia) do not have promotion and relegation.
The champions of the previous season in each country are listed in bold.
Please note: Some clubs play in a national football league other than their own country's. Where this is the case the club is noted as such. In particular, the Australian A-League includes a team from New Zealand, whose national federation is a member of the Oceania Football Confederation.
- For clubs playing at lower divisions, see the separate articles linked to in the relevant sections.
- For clubs belonging to any of the other five continental football confederations of the world, see List of association football clubs.
Read more about List Of Top-division Football Clubs In AFC Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, People's Republic of China, Republic of China ( Chinese Taipei), East Timor (Timor-Leste), Guam, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Northern Mariana Islands, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, football, clubs and/or countries:
“Thirty—the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning brief-case of enthusiasm, thinning hair.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Religious literature has eminent examples, and if we run over our private list of poets, critics, philanthropists and philosophers, we shall find them infected with this dropsy and elephantiasis, which we ought to have tapped.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“In this dream that dogs me I am part
Of a silent crowd walking under a wall,
Leaving a football match, perhaps, or a pit,
All moving the same way.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“We shall exchange our material thinking for something quite different, and we shall all be kin. We shall all be enfranchised, prohibition will prevail, many wrongs will be righted, vampires and grafters and slackers will be relegated to a class by themselves, stiff necks will limber up, hearts of stone will be changed to hearts of flesh, and little by little we shall begin to understand each other.”
—General Federation Of Women’s Clubs (GFWC)
“Other countries have history; we have nothing but contradictions.”
—Christina Stead (1902–1983)