Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
While the winners at this month’s AFC Annual awards are still to be announced, one thing that is certain is that 2014 has been a truly wonderful year for Asian football.
The year began with the delayed U-22 Championship which saw Iraq claim an historic first title at this level after beating Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the final.
The group games of both the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup then kept Asia’s army of passionate fans enthralled until a decidedly busy May which saw three competitions get underway.
Japan won the AFC Futsal Championship for the third time, before the country’s female footballers triumphed at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Vietnam.
An action packed month concluded with Palestine sealing the AFC Challenge Cup title and thereby bagging a place at January’s AFC Asian Cup in Australia.
Asia and the rest of the world then turned its attention to the FIFA World Cup in Brazil ahead of August’s AFC U-14 Championship which was won by Iraq’s youngsters, and Nagoya Oceans’ success at the AFC Futsal Club Championship.
September was just as enthralling, with DPR Korea claiming the AFC U-16 Championship and Turkmenistan’s FC HTTU winning the last-ever edition of the AFC President’s Cup.
A month later and it was Qatar’s young footballers who were smiling after claiming their maiden AFC U-19 Championship title in Myanmar.
Last, but by no means least, October also saw Qadsia win the AFC Cup crown and Western Sydney Wanderers land Australia’s first continental club trophy by securing the AFC Champions League.
Photo: AFP