AFC four-year ranking

The AFC four-year ranking (officially: AFC Club Competitions Ranking ) is a ranking list compiled by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) . It is used to determine the number of soccer Asian Cup starting places of the individual national associations.

history

After teams from all countries were able to take part in the 2002/03 season of the competition, now known as the AFC Champions League , the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) introduced a rough division of the associations into three groups in 2004 and 2005. The stronger associations from then on played in the Champions League, the middle ones in the AFC Cup and the weakest in the AFC President's Cup . With the Vision Asia plan , the aim was to respond to the very inconsistent development status of the national associations.

For the 2009 season of the Champions League, the so-called AFC Final Assessment Ranking was introduced, which, unlike today's four-year rating, did not focus on sporting success, but on the organizational and infrastructural aspects of the highest league of the respective association. Among other things, points were awarded for the organization, the number of spectators and the stadiums; the highest possible number of points was 500. However, some of the points awarded were incomprehensible. Later the maximum number of starting places was limited to a third of the total number of clubs in the first division. The associations that did not meet the criteria for participation in the Champions League determined in this way, although there were also exceptions, were given starting places in the AFC Cup. In the years that followed, the criteria for the Champions League and, in some cases, the AFC Cup were changed and tightened several times, still following the Vision Asia plan.

A rating based for the first time on the sporting successes of the last four years was finally decided in January 2014 for the next season under the name AFC MA Ranking . The AFC President's Cup was abandoned and merged with the AFC Cup, while the number of participants in the Champions League was increased to a maximum of 24 associations.

In November 2016, a comprehensive change to the four-year ranking , which is now officially called AFC Club Competitions Ranking , was presented. After a four-year transition period from 2021, only the successes of the club teams should be included in the rating. As part of this change, the teams in the AFC Cup are no longer divided into two, but into five regions, which correspond to the five regional associations of the AFC. This should give more teams the opportunity to participate.

calculation

Until 2019, the four-year evaluation consisted of two components, each weighted at 90 and 10 percent (in 2015 and 2016 it was 70 and 30 percent). The 90 percent made the success of the club teams of the respective association in the competitions of the AFC, i.e. wins, draws and reaching certain game rounds. The remaining 10 percent included the national team's successes based on their points in the FIFA world rankings .

The AFC points are added up for all clubs in a national association and divided by the number of clubs in the association taking part in the group stage. If necessary, the result is rounded to the third decimal place. The association with the highest total number of points determined in this way automatically receives 90 evaluation points (previously 70), the following associations each proportionally less according to their own number of points. The FIFA rating points are determined in the same way. The association with the highest number of points in the FIFA world rankings automatically receives 10 points (previously 30), the following associations each receive proportionally less according to their own number of points.

Finally, the two values ​​are added together to give the coefficient . These coefficients are added up over four seasons to determine the four-year rating.

The points are awarded to the associations as follows:

Champions League

• 0.3 points per club for participating in the qualification (since 2017)
• 0.3 points per win (excluding penalty shoot-outs), 0.15 points per draw in qualifying (since 2017)
• 3 points per win, 1 point per tie
• 3 points per club for reaching another round after the group stage

AFC Cup

• 0.1 points per club for participating in the qualification (since 2017)
• 0.1 points per win (excluding penalty shoot-outs), 0.05 points per draw in qualifying (since 2017)
• 1 point per win, 1/3 point per tie
• 1 point per club for reaching another round after the group stage
• 1.6 points per win, 1.6 / 3 per draw in the final round for clubs in the west, central, south and east regions (since 2017)
• 0.89 points per win, 0.89 / 3 per draw in the final round for clubs in the southeast region (since 2017)

Ranking 2017

The ranking list drawn up at the end of the 2017 season applies to the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

rank		Association	2014 ( CL , Cup )	2015 ( CL , Cup )	2016 ( CL , Cup )	2017 ( CL , Cup )	total	Rating (90%)	FIFA points	Rating (10%)	total
2017	2016
01.	02.	Ver. Arab. Emirates	18,333	25,000	18,000	11,350	72.683	90,000	474	05,940	95.940
02.	01.	South Korea	17,500	16,750	20,750	09,950	64,950	80.425	563	07,055	87.480
03.	07th	China	09.250	15.750	14.750	24,567	64.317	79.641	561	07.030	86.671
04th	03.	Saudi Arabia	19,250	15,250	09,500	18,600	62,600	77.515	539	06,754	84.269
05.	06th	Japan	13,500	15,250	10,500	21,850	61.100	75.657	623	07.807	83.464
06th	05.	Qatar	08,750	19,000	22,000	13,400	63,150	78.196	336	04.211	82.407
07th	04th	Iran	09,500	11,250	13,000	16,200	49,950	61.851	798	10,000	71.851
08th.	08th.	Australia	17.333	07,500	14,000	05,900	44.733	55.391	747	09,361	64.752
09.	09.	Uzbekistan	11,000	04,750	09,750	05.050	30,550	37.829	437	05.476	43,305
10.	12.	Thailand	06,000	10,000	01,000	15.050	32,050	39.686	230	02,882	42,568
11.	10.	Iraq	07.667	03.167	09,833	08,933	29,600	36.652	438	05.489	42.141
12.	23.	Tajikistan	00.000	09,000	00.333	12,900	22.233	27.530	255	03.195	30.725
13.	17th	Malaysia	01,833	09,500	07.167	04.395	22.895	28,350	097	01.216	29,566
14th	14th	Hong Kong	06,000	08.167	05.833	01,750	21,750	26,932	189	02,368	29,300
15th	18th	India	03.167	03.333	07.667	06.250	20,417	25.281	320	04.010	29.291
16.	13.	Syria	00.833	06.833	05.333	05.933	18,933	23,444	441	05,539	28.983
17th	16.	Vietnam	08.667	04,000	04,000	02,800	19,467	24.105	265	03.321	27,426
18th	15th	Jordan	03.833	04,667	04.167	04,900	17,567	21,752	311	03.897	25.649
19th	11.	Kuwait	10,000	09,500			19,500	21,146	052	00.652	24.798
20th	19th	Bahrain	05.833	02.167	05.333	03.467	16,800	20.803	282	03.534	24,337
21st	25th	Philippines		01.667	04,667	08.120	14,453	17.896	280	03.509	21.405
22nd	20th	Lebanon	05.333	00.667	06.333	00.833	13.167	16.304	404	05.063	21,367
23.	27.	Singapore	02.667	00.500	04,500	05.138	12.805	15.856	098	01.228	17.084
24.	21st	Indonesia	06,500	05.667			12,167	15.066	144	01.805	16.871
25th	24.	Myanmar	03.833	02.667	02.333	01,300	10.133	12,547	176	02.206	14.753
26th	29	Turkmenistan		02,000	02,000	04,483	08,483	10.504	292	03,659	14.163
27.	22nd	Oman	02.167	02.333	01,000	02,200	07,700	09.535	350	04.386	13,921
28.	26th	Maldives	00.667	02,000	01.333	04,300	08,300	10.278	135	01.692	11,970
29	28.	Palestine	00.000	02,000	02,000	00.200	04,200	05,201	427	05.351	10,552
30th	30th	North Korea				03.433	03.433	04.251	283	03,546	07.797
31.	31.	Kyrgyzstan	00.333	00.000	00.000	01,400	01.733	02.146	282	03.534	05,680
32.	34.	Laos		01,000	01,000	00.150	02.150	02,662	062	00.777	03,439
33.	37.	Bangladesh		00.000	01,000	01.333	02.333	02,889	038	00.476	03.365
34.	33.	Yemen	00.000	00.000			00.000	00.000	268	03.358	03.358
35.	36.	Cambodia				01.683	01.683	02.084	098	01.228	03.312
36.	35.	Chinese Taipei					00.000	00.000	221	02.769	02.769
37.	32.	Afghanistan				00.150	00.150	00.186	181	02.268	02,454
38.	39.	Nepal		00.000			00.000	00.000	098	01.228	01.228
39.	38.	Bhutan			00.000	00.150	00.150	00.186	055	00.689	00.875
40.	40.	Macau			00.000		00.000	00.000	065	00.815	00.815
41.	42.	Brunei					00.000	00.000	045	00.564	00.564
42.	41.	Guam					00.000	00.000	043	00.539	00.539
43.	43.	East Timor					00.000	00.000	032	00.401	00.401
44.	44.	Sri Lanka				00.100	00.100	00.124	016	00,201	00.325
45.	46.	Mongolia			00.000	00.000	00.000	00.000	017th	00.213	00.213
46.	45.	Pakistan			00.000		00.000	00.000	015th	00.188	00.188

Ranking list 2019

rank		Association	2016 ( CL , Cup )	2017 ( CL , Cup )	2018 ( CL , Cup )	2019 ( CL , Cup )	total	Rating
2019	2018
01.	02.	China	14.750	24,567	16,200	17.350	72.867	100,000
02.	01.	Qatar	22,000	13,400	19,850	15,900	71.150	097.644
03.	05.	Japan	10,500	21,850	13,850	21,800	68,000	093,321
04th	07th	Saudi Arabia	09,500	18,600	10,000	26,350	64,450	088,449
05.	03.	South Korea	20,750	09,950	18,350	13,600	62,650	085.979
06th	06th	Iran	13,000	16,200	18,850	11,500	59,550	081.724
07th	04th	Ver. Arab. Emirates	18,000	11,350	08.100	07.633	45.083	061.870
08th.	08th.	Thailand	01,000	15.050	16,200	05.050	37,300	051.189
09.	10.	Iraq	09,833	08,933	08,633	08,300	35.699	048.992
10.	11.	Uzbekistan	09,750	05.050	09,400	09,000	33,200	045,562
11.	09.	Australia	14,000	05,900	07.300	02,600	29,800	040.896
12.	15th	Jordan	04.167	04,900	07.633	07.967	24.667	033.852
13.	16.	Philippines	04,667	08.120	05.843	04,782	23,412	032.130
14th	25th	North Korea		03.433	07.433	11.067	21,933	030,100
15th	14th	India	07.667	06.250	04,417	03.217	21,551	029,576
16.	21st	Vietnam	04,000	02,800	03.267	10.752	20.819	028,571
17th	12.	Tajikistan	00.333	12,900	04,433	03,000	20.666	028,361
18th	13.	Malaysia	07.167	04.395	03,633	04,450	19.645	026,960
19th	20th	Singapore	04,500	05.183	05.617	04.133	19,388	026.607
20th	19th	Turkmenistan	02,000	04,483	07,853	05.267	19,333	026,532
21st	24.	Lebanon	06.333	00.833	03.933	06,933	18.032	024.746
22nd	17th	Syria	05.333	05.933	02,000	03.133	16,399	022.505
23.	18th	Hong Kong	05.833	01,750	03,300	03,650	14,533	019.945
24.	22nd	Bahrain	05.333	03.467	01.633	02,500	12,933	017.749
25th	33.	Bangladesh	01,000	01.333	01.433	06,933	10.699	014.683
26th	23.	Maldives	01.333	04,300	04,300		09,933	013.632
27.	26th	Myanmar	02.333	01,300	04.062	01,600	09.295	012.756
28.	27.	Indonesia			04,100	05.045	09.145	012,550
29	29	Oman	01,000	02,200	01,583	01.433	06.216	008.531
30th	30th	Palestine	02,000	00.200	00.150	02.967	05.317	007.297
31.	32.	Cambodia		01.683	02.250	01,000	04.933	006.770
32.	31.	Macau	00.000		04,000		04,000	005.489
33.	35.	Kyrgyzstan	00.000	01,400	00.150	02,433	03,983	005.466
34.	28.	Kuwait				03.433	03.433	004.711
35.	34.	Laos	01,000	00.150	00.150	00.333	01.633	002.241
36.	42.	Nepal				00.667	00.667	000.915
37.	38.	Sri Lanka		00.100		00.350	00.450	000.618
38.	36.	Bhutan	00.000	00.150	00.150	00.100	00.400	000.549
39.	40.	Chinese Taipei			00.000	00.333	00.333	000.457
40.	39.	Mongolia	00.000	00.000	00.100	00.100	00.200	000.274
41.	38.	Afghanistan			00.150		00.150	000.206
42.	37.	Yemen	00.000				00.000	000.000
43.	44.	Brunei					00.000	000.000
44.	45.	East Timor					00.000	000.000
45.	42.	Guam					00.000	000.000
46.	46.	Pakistan	00.000				00.000	000.000

Distribution of starting places

Both competitions will be held separately by region up to the finals and the interregional semi-finals. In the Champions League, the five regional associations are combined into two regions (West and East). The western region includes the members of the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF), the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) and the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) and the eastern region includes the members of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF). In the AFC Cup, each of these regional associations represents its own region. If necessary, exceptions are made to this classification and individual associations are assigned to a different region.

For this purpose, the overall ranking is broken down by region and the access list is determined on the basis of this. This can mean that some associations are “better” in their region than associations in other regions that are actually in front of them. Singapore (27th place overall and 12th place in the eastern region) is still taking part in qualifying for the Champions League in 2018, while Oman (22nd place overall and 13th place in the western region) only plays in the AFC Cup.

Champions League
(west and east region)

rank	Starting places
	group	Qual
1-2	3	1
3-4	2	2
5	1	2
6th	1	1
7-12	0	1
total	12	9 + 6

AFC Cup
(West and Southeast Region)

rank	Starting places
	group	Qual
1-3	2	0
4-6	1	1
5-12	0	1
total	9	3 + 6

AFC Cup
(Central, South and East Region)

rank	Starting places
	group	Qual
1-3	1	1
4-10	0	1
total	3	3 + 7

Ranking of the leaders

Since it was founded in 2014, there have been three Asian leagues that have been able to take the top position. The following table shows the period in which which league was in first place in the rating.

Leader

Period	league	Years
2014-2016	K League 1	3
2017	UAE Arabian Gulf League	1
2018	Qatar Stars League	1
2019	Chinese Super League	1

Number of management years

rank	league	Years	Period
1.	K League 1	3	2014-2016
2.	UAE Arabian Gulf League	1	2017
	Qatar Stars League	1	2018
	Chinese Super League	1	2019

Web links

• Current ranking at The-AFC.com (English)
• Entry Manual for AFC Club Competitions 2017–2020 at The-AFC.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} AFC Final Assessment Ranking 2008 . In: RSSSF .com . Retrieved December 27, 2017.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Revamp of AFC competitions . In: The-AFC.com . January 25, 2014. Archived from the original on October 22, 2014. Retrieved on December 27, 2017.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} AFC Competitions Committee recommends new AFC Cup format . In: The-AFC.com . November 25, 2016. Archived from the original on November 25, 2016. Retrieved on December 27, 2017.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e} AFC Member Association Ranking Calculation Method (PDF) In: The-AFC.com . Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Principles of the AFC Club Competitions Ranking System (PDF) In: The-AFC.com . Retrieved December 27, 2017.
6. ↑ AFC Statutes Edition 2017 (PDF) In: The-AFC.com . Retrieved December 28, 2017.
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Entry Manual for AFC Club Competitions 2017–2020 (PDF) In: The-AFC.com . Retrieved December 28, 2017.