I'd like to know what football club is the oldest in Asia, and what year it was founded, and maybe post a photo if you can. Also if you want, talk about the oldest club in your country, and when it was founded, and some info on it. Let's make this nice, clean, and productive (like it's going to happen)
I don't know but the first Chinese club is South China of Hong Kong, they founded in 1908, before 1949 the hong Kong clubs also took part in Chinese national competitions, South China won their first national Champions in 1910.
I assume Football was introduced to most Asian countries by the British? Well, Iraq's no exception. I think the oldest Iraqi club is Al-Shorta (Police Club). I think they're might of been an older club that was started out by the British...maybe Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (Air Force Club) On the ACL website it says it was founded in 1945, but I have this photo of Al-Shorta (Police) that dates back from 1937. Here's the description from the ACL website: "Al Shorta could have written their name in Asian football history by becoming the first Arab winners of the Asian Club Championship but the political climate of the day held sway, and the Iraqi side withdrew from the 1971 final, which was against Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel. It would be almost three decades before the Police club would contest an AFC competition and they fared reasonably well, reaching the quarter-final round-robin stage of the 2000 Asian Club Championship. They beat Kazakhstan’s Irtysh Pavlodar (3-2) and drew 0-0 with Iran’s Pirouzi but an earlier 1-0 defeat to eventual champions Al Hilal saw them miss out on a semi-final berth. On the domestic front Al Shorta have won the league just twice and although they have yet to claim an Iraq FA Cup title, they did enjoy a hat-trick of victories in the Umm Al Ma’arak (mother of all battles) Cup, winning the tournament, which was initiated in 1991 following the Gulf War, in 2000, 2001 and 2003." Honours Domestic Honours League Champions – 2 (1998, 80) Cup Winners – Nil Continental Record ACC - 2000 - QF; 1971 - Runners-up ACWC - Did Not Participate ASC - Did Not Participate Previous ACL Record 2004 – Group Stage 2003 – Did Not Qualify Today:
yes,I think it was by british, the first football club in China - the San jonh university Football club of Shanghai, was founded by Brithsh in 1903, they were already dismissed and Still don't know if there is any Chinese players in that club, so we consider South China is the first Chinese club and they are still one of the strongest clubs in the Hong Kong league now, In Current CSL the oldest club should be Beijing, they were founded in 1957, but the Beijing team appeared in 1955, I remember before PRC founded there should be another beijing club but we don't consider it as the same one with today's Beijing Guo'an~ 1955 The Beijing Football team, Which is actually the 'citizen" team, participated in the qualification tournament of 1956 City Cup, They won all their 5 group matchs 1956 The National team, which was just back from Hungary after 2 years study, was named as "Beijing Youth Team" and Joined in the Division 1 Championship,they beat Shanghai Sports Institute 2-0 In the Champions Match, that is the First League Champions of beijing! In the same year, the Beijing 'Citizen' team played in the City Cup and ranked the third place! 1957 The Beijing Football Team declared its' foundation. with 13 players from the National team: Nian Weisi,Shi Wanchun,Zhang honggen,Fang Renqiu,Xu Fusheng,Cheng Wenkuan,Wang Defa,Zhang Junxiu,Sun baorong,Sun Fucheng,Chen Jialiang,Zhang Jingtian,Piao Wanfu;and some players from other teams joined Beijing too. Beijing won the division 1 Champions again, with the result 8 win 3 draw No lose! name Changing of Beijing FC 1955 Beijing 1956 Beijing Youth; Beijing 1957-1960 Beijing 1960-1964 Beijing Youth 1965-1991 Beijing; In a short time of 1980s, the team was named Beijing Xuehua 1992- Beijing Guo'an, started from 2003, Hyundai sponsord the club and their name added on the team name. Honors: Domestic: League Champions: 7, 1956,1957,1958,1963,1973,1982,1984 FA Cup champions: 4, 1985,1996,1997,2003 Super Cup Champions2, 1998,2004 Continental Record ACWC: 1998 third place, 1999 Second Round
If you want it to be clean you should open the thread in the main Asia & Middle East part. If one of the mods are watching, it may be a good idea to move it! But you may actually want there to be some rivalry....your choice.
Well, I posted here mostly because I would probably get more feed back, and quicker. But I guess a little rivalry won't hurt Even though we're just talking about facts here!
The history of football clubs in Korea becomes a bit clouded by the division of the country after the Korean war, and the lack of current information about North Korean football sides. I believe that Pyeongyang Athletic (winners in one of the 1922 All-Joseon Football Championship tournaments) are still on the go and/or were direct predecessors of the current Pyongyang City Sports Group club. The oldest club currently playing in the K-League and K2 League set-up is Incheon Korail, founded in 1943 as Korea National Railroad and currently playing in K2. The oldest club in the K-League is Pohang Steelers, originally founded by the POSCO steel company in 1973. One could argue that Sangmu (the military side) are one of the oldest teams on the go but the current incarnation, Gwangju Sangmu Phoenix, were technically established as a separate professional entity in 2002. Before then, like many other Asian countries, the military and works sides were the dominant football sides. Army Special Forces College, Military Police, Quartermaster Corps, Joseon Dockyard and Jo-il Brewery were the big winners in the President's Cup and Amateur Adult Football Conference back in the 1940s and 1950s. Of course there were high school and University teams competing back then too.
I was thinking India might have the oldest club. They have the second oldest cup competition in the world (Durand Cup), but I'm not sure if any of the clubs that played then are still active.
Why is this in rivalries? Why does everything have to be in rivalries? I don't know if it will get more responses, but can you move this thread, Skip?
Mohunbagan club are the oldest football club in Asia and still active. '' It was year 1889. The Indian independence movement against the British rule was spreading rapidly after the uprising of 1857 Sepoy Mutiny. It was a period of growing political awareness, manifestation of Indian public opinion, and emergence of Indian leadership at national and provincial levels. The spontaneous and widespread rebellion fired the imagination of the Indian nationalists throughout the country. Under these circumstances, the birth of Mohun Bagan club on 15th august 1889 is not only organizing a football club but a step forward towards promoting a patriotic feeling, an awakening spirit in Bengali hearts. Mohun Bagan is not only a club, it is a national institution. '' http://www.mohunbaganclub.com/
Did the second post get edited or are my eyes getting freaky on me? I think it the fastest post I ever read and might've been the fastest virulent ever wrote!
Virulent, your pic doesn't show up on the page. But you're saying Mohun Bagan is the oldest team in existence?
Makes sense, given the history of British colonialism in the area... On a similar topic, in Korea, British diplomats were demostrating the sport of tennis to Korean royalty. The Korean king could not understand the point of it. He remarked to the British diplomat, "This looks so undignified. Running this way, and running that way, working up a sweat. If it truely must be done, could you not get a servant to do it?"
Yeah, the Football Association was formed in the mid-1800s and they had a competition in India by the 1880s. I just didn't know any club survived from then.
Really perplexes me that India is not better in soccer. With the long history, large population, passion for sports. For some reason, cricket is their game, instead.
Mohun Bagan is still one of India's top clubs; the Calcutta derby between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal attracts crowds of over 90,000. I suspect that the main reason India isn't very good at soccer is that there is very little high-level soccer outside the Calcutta area. The Indian league format is similar to Brazil's, in that clubs compete in both a national league and in state or regional leagues, and until recently the Calcutta/Bengal championship was considered to be at least as important as the national championship as almost all of the top clubs are in that area. The exception was FC Kochin in the late 90s and early 2000s, which was bankrolled by a multi-millionaire who spent a good deal of money trying to attract India's best players to Kerala.
Thanks for the info. How do you know so much about Indian soccer? I thought you were Portuguese or Brazilian.
American, actually. I don't even speak Portuguese. As for why I know anything about Indian soccer: I have a friend from Calcutta who supports East Bengal, so I keep an eye out for their results.