Fact or Fiction: The J-league is the best domestic league in Asia

Perhaps the J-League and K-League are the best in the eyes of so many people across the Asian continent. I wouldn't blame them for thinking like that since East Asia has dominated football for the past decade or so. However, for someone who lives in the Middle East it's hard for me to appreciate East Asian football. Perhaps the quality of teams, players and matches over there is a lot better than around here but the distance between Japan and Kuwait seems too far away for me to take them seriously. There's a lot of disconnection, unlike the Qatari or UAE leagues, which I find more attractive since I feel like I'm involved in its culture.

So for me, the best 3 leagues in Asia are the following:
1. Saudi League (no doubt).
2. Qatari League.
3. UAE League.

Maybe some day the Iraqi and Iranian league will become attractive for me as well, and I certainly hope things in Kuwait improve. But as far as the East Asian countries are concerned, there's no doubt in my mind that they have excellent football over there but we are too isolated from each other, which makes it meaningless in the end of the day. The same could be said about the A-League. I also think it's a nice league to watch, provided you live in its environment.

 

I can't help but feel we'd get screwed with WC slots. Look at this year... all 4 teams qualified directly came from East Asia. But if we split, we'd probably only get 2.5 slots.
Plus it'd always be the same handful of teams playing against eachother in an even smaller fishbowl and Asia Cup would be a joke. As it stands now, there is good diversity and good competition in AFC.

 

Well said.

 

The thing is AFC has got to prove themselves in the upcoming world cup 2010. We have 46 members IIRC, and 4.5 spots is a shame on us.

 

I think you're over-exaggerating a bit. We've had 3 teams get through the groups in the past 2 World Cups. Australia got shafted out of taking eventual winners Italy to extra time.
CAF has had 1 team in all of WC history get through groups.
And CONCACRAP looks good only because of Mexico's contribution. Costa Rica and TnT were easily 2 of the worst countries in 2006 -- playing antifootball all the way.

 

TnT were awesome!

 

Fact. Nobody can dispute that the J.League is the best league in Asia, using any criteria.

 

Agree but that's sadly not the way the world looks at AFC when we're in the worldcup. No matter how or who AFC team is playing against, we are always the minnows, or the under favored even if Korea is playing against teams like TnT and what not.

 

Clearly... You have no idea what you're talking about.

 

J league is hands down the best managed and most lucrative league in all of asia.

 

Obviously one has to look at the success of J-League clubs against other Asian clubs in order to suggest where it ranks within Asia's club hierarchy. At the moment there is no better way to investigate this claim than to look at the AFC Champions League and perhaps even the Asian Club Championship (the prior competition).

Personally I'm undecided on the issue. In recent memory the Japanese clubs stand out, obviously, but the Saudi Arabians also have a strong footballing presence at club level and before that the South Koreans do too.

 

I think currently I'd rank the nations like this:

1.Japan
2.Saudi Arabia
3.South Korea


This is based on club results from the previous year's AFC Champions League. I think Saudi Arabia are going to get better soon as the SPL is being reformed quite rapidly and now we even have midtable teams that are genuinely quality sides.

 

From what I've read about the Saudi league, it's all about spreading the wealth, so it seems

 

I would say Saudi Arabia and Japan have the best league in AFC.

 

I'm not sure I understand.

 

well the best league in Asia in every way is the J-league, the second best league is the Saudi league because their playing is amazing, the al-ittihad vs. al-hillal game was amazing, then because of facilities its the Korean league, and after that the Iranian league followed by the australian and uzbek league.

1. J-league
2. Saudi League
3. Korean League
4. Iranian League
5. Australian League
6. Uzbek League
7. Qatar League
8. China League
9. Uae league
etc.

The iranian league doesnt have the best facilities but player and attendence wise we are good at asian standards, Qatar and UAE just buy top players and coaches but no improvement...

 

I Think you underrate the Chinese league way to much. I say the Chinese league is the Fifth best league in Asia.

 

i dont rlly have much knowledge on the chinese league, i know they have good facilties and thats it

 

Decent Clubs as well.

1. J.League
2. Saudi League
3. K. League
4. Iranian League/Chinese League
6.Australian league

 

Nahh..China league is pretty weak.

 

1) k-league
2) Iran League
3) Saudi League/ J-league
4) CSL
5) A-league

 

Dude J-League is not doing so well the past 2 years it's the K-League that has been doing good. They have won the last two AFC Champions League cups. The only thing that is going against them is the organization of the stadium that is all. Foreign talents? We have Dejan, Adi, Molina, and etc. what more do you what?

 

J-league is not the best league in Asia.
They haven't won Asian Club Champopns League last year nor last year before.

 

Frankly, J-league sucks.