The IFFHS has decided to determine the Asian club of the century (1901-2000) and with it the continental ranking of the century, using the individual match results of the later rounds of the continental club competitions - analogous to Europe, South America and Africa. The national competitions are merely a prerequisite to qualification for the continental club competitions. Regional continental and intercontinental club competitions were not taken into consideration.
One difference with Europe and South America lies in the fact that Asia - similar to Africa - was partly made up of colonies in the 1st half of the 20th century (and longer) and the development of sport in Asia only began to take off after states had attained their independence. As a result there were no international club competitions (following standard rules) before 1967 involving in the various sovereign states. The development of Asian football, which had a good deal of catching up to do from the first 75 years of the century, enjoyed a terrific increase in the final two decades of the 20th century (and at an accelerated pace after the turn of millennium). This increase in standards was reflected by the introduction of additional continental club competitions (Asia‘s Cup Winners Cup, Asian Super Cup).
A second difference to Europe and South America - as with Africa - was the economic circumstances in Asia and the enormous distances to the away matches. These were difficult handicaps to overcome and for these reasons the Asia‘s Champions Cup was not played between 1972 to 1985. Some countries were also concerned at the participation of the Israeli clubs. In the end the AFC surmounted these problems and the Asian Champions Cup was played in a tournament format in a town from 1967 to 1971 and from 1986 to 1994. From 1995 onwards both the Asian club competitions (champions & cup winners) were played along geographical lines - East Asia and West Asia – to determine each zone’s semi-finalists who then played against each other.
For the champions competition during the period 1967 to 1971 only the individual match results of the semi-finals, finals and for the 3rd place were taken into consideration. Following a 15 year interruption, Asian football developed to such an extent as to carry much more weight. In the period 1986 to 1994 therefore all match results which were played in both groups directly before the semi-finals and finals also were taken into consideration. For 1995 to 2000, this was retained, only consisted of a group from West Asia and the other from East Asia. For the Asia‘s Cup Winners Cup (1991-2000) only match results from the quarter-finals onwards were taken into consideration because from 1995 onwards separate competitions in the earlier rounds were played in East and West Asia. But the two semi-final ties in both zones were treated as analogous to quarter-finals. The score of the Asian Super Cup was between the both other competitions. Decisions by penalty shoot-outs were not taken into consideration, in such cases each team received the half of points.
In 1990 the Asian club ranking was led by Al-Karkh SC Baghdad ahead of Liaoning Hongyun FC (China) and Al-Saad SC Doha (Qatar), who were level on points, as well as Al-Hilal FC Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and FC Busan l‘Park from the Republic of Korea. But the subsequent war and the destruction of Baghdad ruled out the possibilitiy of the Iraqi club collecting any additional points for the continental ranking. By 1995 Asia‘s club ranking was led by the Japanese club FC Yakohama F. Marionos ahead of Al-Hilal FC Riyadh and Esteghlal FC Teheran (Ira
and Liaoning Hongyun FC, level on points, as well as Tokyo Verdy (Japa
.
The major upturn of the Asian football, which began in the last decade of the 20th century, finally crystalized with two top clubs each from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Japan and the Republic of Korea as the best of the 20th century. Al-Hilal FC Riyadh, with a clear lead, became
Asia's Club of the Century. With it there is now a sovereign club of the century for each of the football continents, all determined by using the same standard basic principles across all continents.
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