It's going to happen...so a general news thread here The Congress further approved the proposal of the IR Iran Football Federation regarding the in-principle creation of a “Central” zone (Afghanistan, IR Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) which shall be recognised in the AFC Statutes. As a result, the “South & Central” zone shall be split into two zones http://www.the-afc.com/en/about-afc...y-prevails-at-afc-extraordinary-congress.html
So its nearly there, 6 nations will form the Central Asian Football Federation. So question is, what are the benefits of forming this, will we get to see some regional tournements.. Afghanistan Iran Tajikistan Turkmenistan Kyrgystan Uzbekistan
I think it is a great move, and definitely will benefit Afghanistan. Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan were not part of a regional federation so it is obvious they could not participate in the regional tournaments. With CAFF, I think every nation will participate so you will see some quality football. Compared to SAFF, CAFF nations have better quality in their football. Particularly, the quality of football in Iran and Uzbekistan should benefit the other teams. In terms of climate, Afghanistan was always struggling in the hot and humid weather of Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and India. CAFF nations have very similar climate. Traveling also helps Afghanistan. We can travel by bus to Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. We should be able to do the same to Kyrgyzstan through Tajikistan. Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan all speak in Farsi. This would also help in trainings, communications, etc.
Great news for all nations especially for Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan since they will be having what they have needed matches and in Afghanistan's case matches vs top tier nations. I think it would be a really good idea if some former soviet nations like Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, or Kazakhstan were invited to the tournament since they are all kinda near the rest of the CAFF countries. I think we will see all six nations (except maybe Kyrgyzstan) in the 2019 Asian cup which would be a great success.
I think it might be for youth players but for first time, I dont think it will happen. And with the revised AFC Qualification for WC/AC, there wont be many fifa dates to play regional tournements. I personally prefer regional Cups to be for youth teams to give match exposure, and national teams focus more on qualification campaigns..
What happened I the 2014 Tajik League? In 2013 Ravshan won it won't losing a single game, in 2014 they came bottom losing 13!! Anyone know much about the Tajik league?
http://www.the-afc.com/executive-co...aordinary-congress-approves-amendments-to-afc So its done now officially.
So it is official CAFF has been formed. Iran Uzbekistan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Afghanistan Kyrgyzstan From a regional tournement perspective, I feel that CAFF will follow a similar path to the East Asian Cup and have a 4 team final round, with Iran and Uzbekistan already qualifying for the main event and the rest of the 4 nations battle it out for the remaining 2 spots. the main round will be 4 teams, all play each other once, top team wins the CAFF Cup.
I know it is financially not easy, but I really prefer a round robin system with a finale between the two best teams.
I would like to see a tournament set up for our new confederation and as has been stated before we can invite outside teams to play in it. Teams like Turkey and Russia would be obvious choices due to the Turkic and Soviet connections. Even if they don't send their A team and only send a domestic team it would still be a very good standard.
all depends on Iran pretty much, as it seems they will have the power of this confederation. I don’t think they will invite other confeds, the only thing they can do and I said this in a post before, similar to the EAFF Cup where the top 2 (Iran and Uzbekistan) are guaranteed to the final group, the remaining 4 nations play for the 2 spots, to make it a 4 team 1 round play off, top side wins the Cup.
We need to invite some neighboring nations to make the competition more interesting. Specially some team like Turkey, Russia, Belarus or even China can challenge Iran and Uzbekistan. I wonder if Kurdistan will join this confederation in future or not!
Yes, definitely would be good to get other strong regional teams to come and participate. Similar to how Copa America invites countries from other confederations to play.
Not in this case. Unless they act as qualification for continental finals, regional tournaments such as this are treated as friendlies.
From article about Afghanistan's new coach: Afghanistan is due to play several Central Asian teams, ahead of qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup. "We will be facing countries like Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan for the first time, thus we need to re-evaluate our football," AFF head Keramuddin Karim said. So either this means we will be facing CAFF teams in friendlies or there will be CAFF Championship before the 2nd round of the World Cup Qualifiers.
I think it will be mainly friendlies.... Kyrgystan organised on 31-3, probably Tajikistan will be another friendly. I doubt Iran will give Afghanistan a friendly at this stage...