Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Seoul: The Korea Republic men's professional football season will kick off on May 8, more than two months after being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Korea Professional Football League (K League) announced on Friday that the top-flight K League 1 and the second-tier K League 2 will both begin their 2020 season on May 8.
The opening match will have three-time defending K League 1 champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors host Suwon Samsung Bluewings at Jeonju World Cup Stadium.
The decision was reached during the league's meeting with club representatives in a board meeting at the league headquarters in Seoul. Matches will be played behind closed doors.
The K League said there will also be matches on May 9 and 10, with fixtures announced next week.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: In the fourth part of this series, the-AFC.com takes a closer look at five players from the UAE who have left a lasting mark on the AFC Champions League.
Though the country boasts only one title, several players have left a lasting mark on the competition since it was inaugurated in the 2002-03 season.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Taipei: Despite the current COVID-19 pandemic, on the weekend of the 11th and 12th of April, football returned to East Asia with the 2020 season kick off of the Chinese Taipei Premier League. We spoke to two young stars from the men's and women's teams of top-flight side Hang Yuan FC to get their views on playing in one of only a few active domestic football championships in the world.
Highly rated 20-year-old midfield prospect Wu Yen-shu, who idolises Ronaldinho and Son Heung-min, and Hang Yuan FC Women's captain Chen Ying-hui, 21 and a fan of Cristiano Ronaldo and Chinese Taipei veteran Lai Li-chin, revealed their experiences, hopes and goals for this season in an exclusive interview with the-AFC.com.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Thimphu: Five continents are represented in the 10 countries with the highest average elevation, but do you know which domestic league is played at the highest altitude? The answer is the Bhutan Premier League, the national competition of the mountainous kingdom of 740,000 inhabitants with an average elevation of 10,760 feet.
A small landlocked country in South Asia located in the Eastern Himalayas, Bhutan has managed to maintain a unique national identity.
Most matches are played at their Changlimithang Stadium, with its Bhutanese architectural features emblematic of the nation’s distinctiveness.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: National teams old and new have set out with the ultimate goal of bringing the World Cup back to Asia, but only one has succeeded.
The Japanese women’s national team of 2011 became Asia’s world champions at the senior level, overcoming tournament hosts and defending champions Germany in the quarter-final before outlasting the United States in a classic final and providing a boost to a nation still reeling from a painful natural disaster.
That remarkable win in Germany represented the peak of their success, but it was far from the Nadeshiko’s only breakthrough success, with first-time titles in the Asian Games and AFC Women’s Asian Cup and a FIFA World Player of the Year title for team leader Homare Sawa all materialising in an unprecedented four-year period.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Brasilia: “I put my name in history”.
Only one player has scored a hat-trick in the Premier continental final since the first Asian club champions were crowned more than 50 years ago.
That remarkable feat occurred on April 22, 2000 – 20 years ago today – when Al Hilal’s on-loan Brazilian striker Sergio Ricardo scored a third-minute free-kick, a last-gasp equaliser and a decisive 103rd-minute golden goal to bring the Asian crown back to Riyadh for the second time in history.
Al Hilal’s 3-2 win over a Jubilo Iwata side featuring the likes of Masashi Nakayama and Naohiro Takahara sent a vibrant King Fahd Stadium into euphoria and gave the Saudi giants a title they would need to wait 19 years to replicate.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: Since first leaving his homeland in 2006 for a short stint in Saudi Arabia, Daegu FC striker Dejan Damjanovic has spent a long and fruitful career in Asia.
During that time, the 38-year-old has represented Montenegro with esteem, become the second-highest goalscorer in the AFC Champions League’s history and claimed a number of titles along the way.
Looking back at his spells with clubs including FC Seoul and Suwon Samsung Bluewings in Korea Republic and China PR’s Beijing FC, as well as with the national team, Damjanovic tells the-AFC.com what his Dream XI among those he has played alongside would be.