Asian Football Confederation

Asian Football Confederation:

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football in Asia. It has 46 member countries, mostly located on the Asian continent. Due to the disputed boundary of Europe and Asia transcontinental nations such as Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Cyprus, and Russia, are instead in the UEFA, as is Israel which lies entirely in Asia. On the other hand, Australia, formerly in the OFC, has been in the AFC since 2006, in the same way as the oceanian nations of Guam and Northern Mariana Islands, which are also members of AFC.

The AFC was founded on 8 May 1954 in Manila, Philippines, and is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The main headquarters is located in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The current president is Mohammed Bin Hammam of Qatar.

The AFC was formed officially on 8 May 1954 in Manila, Philippines, on the sidelines of the second Asian Games. The 12 founder members were Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea Republic, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam.

AFC competitions:

The AFC runs the Asian Cup, a competition for the national football teams of Asia held every four years, as well as the Asian World Cup Qualifying Tournament and the AFC Challenge Cup. It also runs the Asian Olympics Qualifying Tournament. The AFC also runs three levels of annual international club competitions. The most prestigious (and oldest of the current AFC club competitions) is the AFC Champions League tournament, based on the UEFA Champions League, formed in 2002/03 with the amalgamation of the Asian Champions Cup and the Asian Cup Winners Cup. (An Asian Super Cup competition between the winners of these two major tournaments ended with the birth of the AFC Champions League.) The other competitions branched off this in 2004 when the 'Vision Asia' blueprint for development was launched. This led to the top fourteen AFC nations, the 'mature nations', sending their best teams to the AFC Champions League. The next 14 nations, the 'developing nations' qualify to send their teams to the AFC Cup.

The rest of the AFC-affiliated countries, the 'emerging nations' send their teams to the AFC President's Cup. The teams which qualify from each country are usually the champions and the cup winners. Currently there is no promotion and relegation between the different levels of nations.

The AFC plans to revamp 22 leagues in Asia, 10 of them by 2009-2012. This is due to the poor performance of Asian teams in the 2006 World Cup. The reforms include increasing transparency, increasing competitiveness, improving training facilities, and forcing the leagues to have a system of relegation and promotion.

The 10 leagues marked for reform are Australia, Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore, India, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. The proposal would mark a radical change in Australia, where professional leagues in all sports are organised on a model of franchised teams and closed league membership.

There are 12 AFC Nations that play in the UAFA organised Arab Nations Cup, namely: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

AFC tournaments:

International

*Asian Cup · Challenge Cup · U-19 Championship · U-16 Championship · Futsal Championship

Club level

*Champions League · Cup · President's Cup · Futsal Club Championship

Defunct: Cup Winners Cup · Super Cup

Women's football

*Asian Cup · U-19 Championship · U-16 Championship

Regional tournaments

*ASEAN: ASEAN Football Championship (formerly known as the Tiger Cup prior to 2007).

*Central Asia: Officially only 4 countries in this region, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (Kazakhstan left for UEFA). No official tournament held between countries in this region.

*East Asia: East Asian Cup.

*South Asia: South Asian Football Federation Cup.

*West Asia: West Asian Football Federation Championship (Although not all West Asian Countries enter), Gulf Cup of Nations.

UEFA champions league

UEFA champions league:


The UEFA Champions League (usually referred to as simply the Champions League or historically as the European Cup) is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. The final of the competition is the most watched annual sporting event worldwide, drawing just over 100 million television viewers.

Prior to 1992 the tournament was officially called the European Champion Clubs' Cup but was usually referred to as simply the European Cup or European Champions' Cup. The competition was initially a straight knockout competition open only to the champion club of each country. During the 1990s the tournament began to be expanded, incorporating a round-robin group phase and more teams. Europe's strongest national leagues now provide up to four teams each for the competition. The UEFA Champions League should not be confused with the UEFA Europa League, formerly known as the UEFA Cup.

The tournament consists of several stages. In the present format it begins in mid-July with three knockout qualifying rounds and a play-off round. The 10 surviving teams join 22 seeded teams in the group stage, in which there are eight groups consisting of four teams each. The eight group winners and eight runners-up enter the final knockout phase, which ends with the final match in May. Since the tournament changed name and structure in 1992, no club has managed consecutive wins, with Milan being the last club to successfully defend their title, in 1990. The winner of the UEFA Champions League qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.

The title has been won by 21 different clubs, 12 of which have won the title more than once. The all-time record-holders are Real Madrid, who have won the competition nine times, including the first five seasons it was contested. Spain's La Liga and Italy's Serie A are marginally the most successful leagues, having amassed 12 wins, between two and three clubs respectively. The English league has produced 11 winners from four clubs. English teams were controversially banned from the competition for five years following the events at Heysel in 1985. Internazionale are the current champions, having beaten Bayern Munich 2–0 in the 2010 final.

History:

The tournament was inaugurated in 1955, at the suggestion of the French sports journalist and editor of L'Équipe Gabriel Hanot,[3] who conceived the idea after receiving reports from his journalists over the highly successful Campeonato Sudamericano de Campeones of 1948.[4] As a reaction to a declaration by the British press on the part of Wolverhampton Wanderers being "Champions of the World" after a successful run of European friendlies in the 1950s, Hanot finally managed to convince UEFA to put into practice a continent-wide tournament. The tournament was conceived as a competition for winners of the European national football leagues, as the European Champion Clubs' Cup, abbreviated to European Cup.

                                                      The European Champion Clubs' Cup


The competition began as the 1955–56 using a two-leg knockout format where the teams would play two matches, one at home and one away, and the team with the highest overall score qualifying for the next round of the competition. Until 1997, entry was restricted to the teams that won their national league championships, plus the current European Cup holder. In the 1992–93 season, the format was changed to include a group stage and the tournament was renamed the UEFA Champions League. There have since been numerous changes to eligibility for the competition, the number of qualifying rounds and the group structure. In 1997–98, eligibility was expanded to include the runners-up from some countries according to UEFA's coefficient ranking list. The qualification system has been restructured so that national champions from lower ranked countries have to take part in one or more qualifying rounds before the group stages, while runners-up from higher ranked countries enter in later rounds. Up to four clubs from the top-ranked countries are currently given entry to the competition.

Between 1960 and 2004, the winner of the tournament qualified for the now defunct Intercontinental Cup against the winner of the Copa Libertadores of South America. Since then, the winner automatically qualifies for the FIFA-organised Club World Cup with other winners of continental club championships.

Qualification:

As of 2009, the UEFA Champions League commences with a round-robin group stage of 32 teams, which is preceded by two qualification 'streams' for teams that do not receive direct entry to the tournament proper. The two streams are divided between teams qualified by virtue of being league champions, and those qualified by virtue of finishing 2nd-4th in their national championship.

The number of teams that each association enters into the UEFA Champions League is based upon the UEFA coefficients of the member associations. These coefficients are generated by the results of clubs representing each association during the previous five Champions League and UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup seasons. The higher an association's coefficient, the more teams represent the association in the Champions League, and the fewer qualification rounds the association's teams must compete in.

5 of the remaining ten qualifying places are granted to the winners of a four round qualifying tournament between the remaining 39 or 38 national champions, within which those champions from associations with higher coefficients receive byes to later rounds. The other 5 are granted to the winners of a two round qualifying tournament between the 15 clubs from the associations ranked 1-15, which have qualified based upon finishing 2nd-4th in their national league.

Map of UEFA countries whose teams reached the group stage of the UEFA Champions League

  UEFA member country that has been represented in the group stage

      UEFA member country that has not been represented in the group stage

  Not a UEFA member

In addition to sporting criteria, any club must be licensed by its national association to participate in the Champions league. To obtain a license, club must meet certain stadium, infrastructure and finance requirements.

In 2005-06, Liverpool and Artmedia Bratislava became the first teams to reach the Champions League group stage after playing in all three qualifying rounds. In 2008-09, both BATE and Anorthosis Famagusta achieved the same feat. Barcelona, Manchester United, and Porto are the teams that have appeared most often in the group stage: fourteen times each. FC Porto have only won the tournament once since the establishment of the group stage (2004), Manchester United twice (1999 and 2008) and Barcelona 3 times (1992, 2006 and 2009).

Between 2003 and 2008, no differentiation was made between champions and non-champions in qualification. The sixteen top ranked teams spread across the biggest domestic leagues qualified directly for the tournament group stage. Prior to this, three preliminary knockout qualifying rounds whittled down the remaining teams, with different teams starting in different rounds.

Tournament:

The tournament proper begins with a group stage of 32 teams, divided into 8 groups. Seeding is used whilst making the draw for this stage, whilst teams from the same country may not be drawn into groups together. Each team meets the others in its group home and away in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each group progress to the round of 16, which commences the knock-out tournament. The third team enters the UEFA Europa League.

For this stage, one group's winners play against another group's runners-up, and teams from the same country may not be drawn against each other. From the quarter-finals onwards, the draw is entirely random, with country protection no longer in force.

The group stage is played through the autumn, whilst the knock-out stage starts after a winter break. The knock-out ties are played in a two-legged format, with the exception of the final. This is typically held in the final two weeks of May.

 Sponsorship:


Like the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League is sponsored by a group of multinational corporations, in contrast to the single main sponsor of the Barclays Premier League, the Ligue 1 or Serie A TIM. When the Champions League was created in 1992, it was decided that a maximum of eight companies should be allowed to sponsor the event, with each corporation being allocated four advertising boards around the perimeter of the pitch, as well as logo placement at pre- and post-match interviews and a certain number of tickets to each match. This, combined with a deal to ensure tournament sponsors were given priority on television advertisements during matches, ensured that each of the tournament's main sponsors was given maximum exposure.
The advertising boards are a source of criticism, due to their larger size compared to those in other leagues such as the Premier League. Their larger size means that, at some grounds, such as Celtic Park, Old Trafford, Anfield and Stamford Bridge, the front rows of seating cannot be used as their views of the pitch are blocked by the extreme size of the boards; accordingly, some season ticket holders are not guaranteed tickets for games and have to sit in seats other than their usual ones for games. Additionally, some stadia use the flat area in front of the front rows of seating for wheelchairs and disabled seating, so the boards drastically reduce these grounds' disabled supporter capacity.

The Champions League logo is shown on the centre of the pitch before every game in the competition

The tournament's current main sponsors are:

    * Ford
   
* Heineken (excluding Norway, Spain, France, Switzerland and Russia, where alcohol sponsorship is restricted. In Norway the Heineken adboard is replaced by a chalk art picture adboard, In Spain, France, and Switzerland the Heineken adboard is replaced by a "Star Experience" adboard and in Russia the Heineken adboard is replaced by a "No To Racism" adboard)
   
* MasterCard
    
* Sony Europe
          o BRAVIA is the brand advertised.
    
* Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
          o PlayStation is the brand advertised.
    
* UniCredit
Adidas is a secondary sponsor and supplies the official match ball, as they do for all other UEFA competitions. Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer is also a secondary sponsor as the official Champions League video game.

Individual clubs may wear jerseys with advertising, even if such sponsors conflict with those of the Champions League. However, only one sponsorship is permitted per jersey (plus that of the manufacturer), and if clubs play a match in a country where the relevant sponsorship category is restricted (such as the case of France, alcohol, and betting), then they must remove that logo from their jerseys.

International competitions

International competitions:

The major international competition in football is the World Cup, organised by FIFA. This competition takes place over a four-year period. More than 190 national teams compete in qualifying tournaments within the scope of continental confederations for a place in the finals. The finals tournament, which is held every four years, involves 32 national teams competing over a four-week period.[46] The most recent tournament, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, was held in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July.[47]

There has been a football tournament at every Summer Olympic Games since 1900, except at the 1932 games in Los Angeles. Before the inception of the World Cup, the Olympics (especially during the 1920s) had the same status as the World Cup. Originally, the event was for amateurs only,[18] however, since the 1984 Summer Olympics professional players have been permitted, albeit with certain restrictions which prevent countries from fielding their strongest sides. Currently, the Olympic men's tournament is played at Under-23 level. In the past the Olympics have allowed a restricted number of over-age players per team;[48] but that practice ceased in the 2008 Olympics. The Olympic competition is not generally considered to carry the same international significance and prestige as the World Cup. A women's tournament was added in 1996; in contrast to the men's event, full international sides without age restrictions play the women’s Olympic tournament. It thus carries international prestige considered comparable to that of the FIFA Women's World Cup.

After the World Cup, the most important international football competitions are the continental championships, which are organised by each continental confederation and contested between national teams. These are the European Championship (UEFA), the Copa América (CONMEBOL), African Cup of Nations (CAF), the Asian Cup (AFC), the CONCACAF Gold Cup (CONCACAF) and the OFC Nations Cup (OFC). The FIFA Confederations Cup is contested by the winners of all 6 continental championships, the current FIFA World Cup champions and the country which is hosting the Confederations Cup. This is generally regarded as a warm up tournament for the upcoming FIFA World Cup and does not carry the same prestige as the World Cup itself. The most prestigious competitions in club football are the respective continental championships, which are generally contested between national champions, for example the UEFA Champions League in Europe and the Copa Libertadores de América in South America. The winners of each continental competition contest the FIFA Club World Cup.

Governing bodies

Governing bodies:

The recognised international governing body of football (and associated games, such as futsal and beach soccer) is the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). The FIFA headquarters are located in Zurich.

Six regional confederations are associated with FIFA; these are:

    * Asia: Asian Football Confederation (AFC)
    * Africa: Confederation of African Football (CAF)
    * Europe: Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)
    * North/Central America & Caribbean: Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean                     Association Football (CONCACAF)
    * Oceania: Oceania Football Confederation (OFC)
    * South America: Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol/Confederação Sul-americana de Futebol (South American Football Confederation; CONMEBOL)

National associations oversee football within individual countries. These are generally synonymous with sovereign states, (for example: the Fédération Camerounaise de Football in Cameroon) but also include a smaller number of associations responsible for sub-national entities or autonomous regions (for example the Scottish Football Association in Scotland). 208 national associations are affiliated both with FIFA and with their respective continental confederations; an additional 13 are affiliated to continental confederations but not to FIFA.

While FIFA is responsible for arranging competitions and most rules related to international competition, the actual Laws of the Game are set by the International Football Association Board, where each of the UK Associations has one vote, while FIFA collectively has four votes.

Some of the football associations not recognised by FIFA are affiliated to the Nouvelle Fédération-Board (NF-Board).

 

Misconduct

Misconduct:

A foul occurs when a player commits an offence listed in the Laws of the Game while the ball is in play. The offences that constitute a foul are listed in Law 12. Handling the ball deliberately, tripping an opponent, or pushing an opponent, are examples of "penal fouls", punishable by a direct free kick or penalty kick depending on where the offence occurred. Other fouls are punishable by an indirect free kick.[7] The referee may punish a player or substitute's misconduct by a caution (yellow card) or sending-off (red card). A second yellow card at the same game leads to a red card, and therefore to a sending-off. A player given a yellow card is said to have been "booked", the referee writing the player's name in his official notebook. If a player has been sent off, no substitute can be brought on in their place. Misconduct may occur at any time, and while the offences that constitute misconduct are listed, the definitions are broad. In particular, the offence of "unsporting behaviour" may be used to deal with most events that violate the spirit of the game, even if they are not listed as specific offences. A referee can show a yellow or red card to a player, substitute or substituted player. Non-players such as managers and support staff cannot be shown the yellow or red card, but may be expelled from the technical area if they fail to conduct themselves in a responsible manner.[7]

 Rather than stopping play, the referee may allow play to continue if doing so will benefit the team against which an offence has been committed. This is known as "playing an advantage". The referee may "call back" play and penalise the original offence if the anticipated advantage does not ensue within a short period, typically taken to be four to five seconds. Even if an offence is not penalised due to advantage being played, the offender may still be sanctioned for misconduct at the next stoppage of play.

Players are cautioned with a yellow card, and sent off with a red card. These colours were first introduced at the 1970 FIFA World Cup and used consistently since.

Ball in and out of play

Ball in and out of play:

 

The ball remains in play from the beginning of each playing period to the end of that period, except when:

    * The ball leaves the field by entirely crossing a goal line or touch line (this includes when a goal is scored); or
    * Play is stopped by the referee (for example when a foul has been committed, a player is seriously injured, or the ball becomes defective).

Note that when the ball is in play it remains in play if it rebounds from a goalpost, crossbar, corner flag, referee or assistant referee, assuming that they are on the field of play at the time.

When the ball is in play players may play the ball, contest the ball, and goals may be scored. Players are liable to punishment for committing either fouls or misconduct. Substitutions may not occur whilst the ball is in play.

                        Balls A, B and C are still in play as they have not wholly crossed the touchline.
                                Ball D has completely passed over the touchline, and is out of play.


When the ball has left the field of play or play has been stopped by the referee, it becomes out of play until play is recommenced by the appropriate restart.

When the ball is out of play the ball is "dead"; players must not play the ball or interfere with their opponents, and goals cannot be scored. By definition, fouls do not occur when the ball is out of play, however misconduct may occur. Substitutions may only be made when the ball is out of play (and then only with the permission of the referee).

RESTARTS:


When the ball becomes out of play, the ball is put back into play be the appropriate restart. The restarts in fútbol are:

    * Kick-off: following a goal by the opposing team, or to begin each period of play.
    * Throw-in: when the ball has entirely crossed the touch line; awarded to opposing team to that which last touched the ball.
    * Goal kick: when the ball has entirely crossed the goal line without a goal having been scored and having last been touched by an attacker; awarded to defending team. (Law 16).
    * Corner kick: when the ball has entirely crossed the goal line without a goal having been scored and having last been touched by a defender; awarded to attacking team.
    * Indirect free kick: awarded to the opposing team following "non-penal" fouls (like obstruction, offside, etc.), certain technical infringements, or when play is stopped to caution/send-off an opponent without a specific foul having occurred.
    * Direct free kick: awarded to fouled team following certain listed "penal" fouls.
    * Penalty kick: awarded to fouled team following "penal" foul having occurred in their opponent's penalty area.
    * Dropped-ball: occurs when the referee has stopped play for any other reason (e.g. a serious injury to a player, interference by an external party, or a ball becoming defective). This restart is uncommon in adult games.

Once the ball is out of play, the only restart is the restart appropriate for the reason the ball went out of play in the first place; subsequent actions do not change the restart. For example, if the ball goes out of play because of a foul by Team A against Team B, the restart must be a free kick to Team B even if a Team B player strikes an opponent; offending Team B player would, however, be liable for misconduct (i.e. yellow card or red card).

Note, however, that the referee may change the original restart if he realises he has made an error or on the advice of his assistant referees, provided play has not yet restarted. For example, if the ball has gone out of play because the ball was kicked into goal by Team A and the referee has signalled that a goal has been scored, but then notices that an assistant referee has indicated a foul by a Team A player immúúediately before the goal was scored, the referee would change to the correct restart of a free kick to Team B where the foul occurred.

              A player takes a free kick, while the opposition form a "wall" in order to try to deflect the ball

Duration and tie-breaking methods

Duration and tie-breaking methods:

 

 A standard adult football match consists of two periods of 45 minutes each, known as halves. Each half runs continuously, meaning that the clock is not stopped when the ball is out of play. There is usually a 15-minute half-time break between halves. The end of the match is known as full-time.

The referee is the official timekeeper for the match, and may make an allowance for time lost through substitutions, injured players requiring attention, or other stoppages. This added time is commonly referred to as stoppage time or injury time, and is at the sole discretion of the referee. The referee alone signals the end of the match. In matches where a fourth official is appointed, toward the end of the half the referee signals how many minutes of stoppage time he intends to add. The fourth official then informs the players and spectators by holding up a board showing this number. The signalled stoppage time may be further extended by the referee.[37] Added time was introduced because of an incident which happened in 1891 during a match between Stoke and Aston Villa. Trailing 1–0 and with just two minutes remaining, Stoke were awarded a penalty. Villa's goalkeeper kicked the ball out of the ground, and by the time the ball had been recovered, the 90 minutes had elapsed and the game was over.[38] The same law also stands that the duration of either half is extended until the penalty kick to be taken or retaken is completed,[39] thus no game shall end with a penalty to be taken.

In league competitions, games may end in a draw, but in some knockout competitions if a game is tied at the end of regulation time it may go into extra time, which consists of two further 15-minute periods. If the score is still tied after extra time, some competitions allow the use of penalty shootouts (known officially in the Laws of the Game as "kicks from the penalty mark") to determine which team will progress to the next stage of the tournament. Goals scored during extra time periods count toward the final score of the game, but kicks from the penalty mark are only used to decide the team that progresses to the next part of the tournament (with goals scored in a penalty shootout not making up part of the final score).

In competitions using two-legged matches, each team competes at home once, with an aggregate score from the two matches deciding which team progresses. Where aggregates are equal, the away goals rule may be used to determine the winners, in which case the winner is the team that scored the most goals in the leg played away from home. If the result is still equal, kicks from the penalty mark are usually required, though some competitions may require a tied game to be replayed.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the IFAB experimented with ways of creating a winner without requiring a penalty shootout, which was often seen as an undesirable way to end a match. These involved rules ending a game in extra time early, either when the first goal in extra time was scored (golden goal), or if one team held a lead at the end of the first period of extra time (silver goal). Golden goal was used at the World Cup in 1998 and 2002. The first World Cup game decided by a golden goal was France's victory over Paraguay in 1998. Germany was the first nation to score a golden goal in a major competition, beating Czech Republic in the final of Euro 1996. Silver goal was used in Euro 2004. Both these experiments have been discontinued by IFAB.