AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019
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QUARTERLY THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE ASIAN FOOTBALL CONFEDERATION ISSUE 25 PLUS MILOS DEGENEK Defender wants Socceroos to dominate Asian AFC football ASIAN CUP UAE 2019 An in-depth look at the 24 teams participating at the continental tournament ALIREZA ISSUE BEIRANVAND IR Iran goalkeeper targets AFC Asian Cup title 25January 2019 BASHAR RESAN PHIL YOUNGHUSBAND THITIPAN PUANGCHAN Iraq midfielder takes After the Philippines qualified for The War Elephants midfielder inspiration from the golden their maiden AFC Asian Cup, the is aiming to go deep into the generation of 2007 ahead striker looks forward to competing tournament in the United Arab of his first AFC Asian Cup. with the continent’s elite. Emirates. QUARTERLY CONTENTS Issue No. 25 January - March 2019 Official quarterly publication of the Asian Football Confederation Published on behalf of the Asian Football Confederation by Lagardère Sports Asian Football Confederation AFC House, Jalan 1/155B, Bukit Jalil 5700 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Tel: +603 8994 3388 Fax: +603 8994 2689 www.the-afc.com www.facebook.com/theafcdotcom 14 @theafcdotcom President & FIFA Vice President: AFC ASIAN CUP Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa Vice Presidents: UAE 2019 SPECIAL Praful Patel Winston Lee Boon Aun Ali Kafashian Naeini Saoud A. Aziz M A Al Mohannadi 42 – Alireza Beiranvand 54 – Phil Younghusband A fine 2018 saw the Iranian goalkeeper star at The Philippines’ record goalscorer believes the FIFA Council Members: the FIFA World Cup and reach Azkals have what it takes to reach the HRH Prince Abdullah Ibni Sultan the AFC Champions League final. AFC Asian Cup knockout rounds. Ahmad Shah He now wants to end his country’s Kohzo Tashima 42-year wait for continental success. 56 – Thitipan Puangchan Zhang Jian It’s 12 years since Thailand last reached the Chung Mong-gyu 48 – Bashar Resan continental tournament, but Thitipan Puangchan Mariano V. Araneta Jr. The Persepolis midfielder has risen to is confident the Southeast Asians can make their Mahfuza Akhter Kiron the fore over the past 12 months and mark in the United Arab Emirates. looks set to be a key figure in Iraq’s AFC Executive Committee quest for AFC Asian Cup glory. 58 – Anton Zemlianukhin Members: Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, After scoring the goals to help Kyrgyz Moya Dodd, Susan Shalabi Molano, 52 – Milos Degenek Republic advance to their first AFC Asian Cup, Han Un-gyong, HE Mohamed Khalfan Serbia-based Socceroo reveals that the the forward can’t wait for the MS Al Romaithi, Ahmed Eid S. Al defending AFC Asian Cup champions want to Central Asians’ campaign to begin. Harbi, Mohamed Shaweed, Sardor entertain en route to retaining their title. Rakhmatullaev, Hachem Sayed Ali Haidar, Viphet Sihachakr, Zohra Mehri AFC General Secretary: Dato’ Windsor John Managing Editor: Daniel Pordes Editor: Peter Alsop Regular Sections Designer: David Chung 10 – In The News 64 – AFC U-19 Championship Photos: 60 – AFC Champions League 66 – Inside AFC Lagardère Sports, Agence SHOT, Adnan Hajj Ali, Getty Images, Power 62 – AFC Cup 70 – Great Grounds of Asia Sport Images Any views expressed in AFC Quarterly do not necessarily reflect those of the Asian Football Confederation. The reproduction of photos and articles – even partially – is prohibited unless permission has been sought from the editors and a reference is made to the source. AFC PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa AFC President Dear friends, Welcome to the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019. After four years the wait is finally over, and the biggest and best-ever AFC Asian Cup is underway. With a record 24 teams, who progressed through the most innovative and inclusive Qualifying Programme that has ever been staged, the AFC Asian Cup is now firmly established as one of the world’s top national team competitions. As the flagship tournament for Asia’s nations, the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 has lived up to the AFC Vision and Mission objective of developing top-level competitions that allow our teams to compete on the world stage. For the first time the AFC will introduce the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system from the Quarter-final stage incorporating the world’s leading suppliers in this field. There is a glittering new trophy for the first time in the 56-year history of the competition. Designed by world-renowned silversmiths, the trophy now awaits the winners on February 1. They will also receive a record winners’ cheque of US$5m from the richest-ever prize fund of almost US$15m. The AFC has supported Asian equipment manufacturers by signing with leading football developer Molten, who have created a specially designed match ball for the 51 games which begin with the UAE taking on Bahrain on January 5 at Zayed Sports City. In control of the matches are the 57 top officials from Asia, which continues to set benchmarks in refereeing – and they will be supported by a trio from Mexico led by referee Cesar Arturo Ramos as part of the AFC-CONCACAF Memorandum of Understanding exchange programme. And all the action is taking place at eight leading stadiums and the AFC thanks everyone responsible including the UAE Government, the Local Organising Committee and our volunteers, who have generously given their time. So, there is much to be excited about but none of this would have been possible without the magnificent support of our Member Associations whose support and unity allowed the AFC to introduce all these exciting additions to an already prestigious tournament. I am also grateful to our commercial partners, broadcasters and the thousands of fans who will watch in the stadiums of the UAE and the tens of millions who will watch on television or engage via social media. Your support is greatly appreciated. We wish all the 24 teams the very best of luck and we look forward to crowning the champions in Abu Dhabi on February 1. Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa AFC President AFC QUARTERLY 5 Gallery Full House Final A record-breaking crowd of 100,000 football fans packed the stands at Azadi Stadium in Tehran to watch Persepolis face Kashima Antlers in the AFC Champions League final on November 10. AFC QUARTERLY 7 Gallery Best In Class Asian Football Confederation prize winners lined up for the cameras after winning their respective accolades at the prestigious AFC Annual Awards gala in Muscat, Oman, at the end of November. AFC QUARTERLY 9 IN THE NEWS Abdulkarim Hassan And Double Delight For Wang Shuang Win Top Awards Japan Coaches At Awards QATAR DEFENDER ABDULKARIM HASSAN IS NAMED THE AFC PLAYER OF apan were and all coaches who have given recognised for so much to the game. AFC Diamond of Asia: Zhang Jilong THE YEAR AND CHINA PR MIDFIELDER WANG SHUANG WINS their coaching “Of course, we aim to win the THE AFC WOMEN’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR AT AWARDS GALA IN MUSCAT. excellence in 2018 World Cup next year. And I am AFC President’s Special Recognition Award: Futoshi Ikeda; at November’s AFC confident that with unity, we can Annual Awards make our country proud.” Wild Boars FC bdulkarim Hassan rounded dreams of winning such an award and this is AFC,” said Wang. when the Men’s and One who may also be a part AFC Futsal Player of the Year: Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh off an excellent 12 months a great testament to Qatar football. “Of course, this has been a year of Women’s 2018 AFC of the 2019 FIFA Women’s by being named the 2018 “It is a great honour to be the second great results. To secure a move to PSG, to Coach of the Year accolades were World Cup is young striker AFC Referees Special Award: Alireza Faghani; Reza AFC Player of the Year in Qatari to win this award. Of course, I have to score in the UEFA Champions League and awarded to Go Oiwa and Asako Saori Takarada, who was Muscat, Oman, at the end thank my teammates and I thank everyone now to win this great award. But also, this JTakakura respectively. named AFC Youth Player of Sokhandan; Mohammadreza Mansouri of November after seeing off who supported me in my career. year we played in the Asian Games and Kashima Antlers’ coach Oiwa the Year (Women), while Saudi competition from Kashima “I would like to dedicate this award to the personally I do feel some regret that we guided his side to their maiden Arabia’s Turki Al Ammar won AFC Inspiring Member Association Of The Year: Japan Antlers pair Yuma Suzuki and Qatar FA President, and the Qatari people. I were not able to do better.” AFC Champions League title the AFC Youth Player of the Football Association Kento Misao. am still just 25 years old, I have a long way The 23-year-old was part of the China on November 10 to pick up the Year (Men). The Al Sadd left-back played a vital role to go, and I hope to build on this success. PR team who finished third in the 2018 men’s top coaching honour, Japan also earned the AFC Developing Member Association Of The Year: DPR Korea Ain his club’s advance to the 2018 AFC The three nominees did a great job this AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Jordan and while AFC Women’s Asian Cup Inspiring AFC Member Champions League semi-finals and runners- year.” played a pivotal role for the Steel Roses, Jordan 2018-winning coach Asako Association of the Year, Makoto Football Association up finish in the 2017-18 Qatar Stars League In the women’s game, China PR’s scoring six goals at the 2018 Asian Games Takakura confirmed her legendary Hasebe was named AFC Asian AFC Aspiring Member Association Of The Year: Mongolian season.