The area of Central Asia has a wide variety of sports, many of which have close cultural ties to the countries involved.
Football, the world's most popular sport, [1] is played in the majority of countries in Central Asia. The Asian Football Confederation or AFC is the governing body of association football in Asia, similar to UEFA in Europe and FIFA worldwide. [2]
The following countries all have organisations affiliated to the AFC:
Though wrestling is an international and Olympic sport, there are many different variations in Central Asia. Mongolian wrestling has been practised in the country for many centuries. Khuresh is a form of wrestling that is popular in the region of Tuva in Siberia.
Sports in Japan are a significant part of Japanese culture. Traditional sports, such as sumo and martial arts, as well as Western imports like baseball, association football, basketball and tennis are popular with both participants and spectators.
The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It promotes the game in Oceania and allows the member nations to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation (ALFC) was the section of AFC that managed women's association football in Asia. The group was independently founded in April 1968 in a meeting involving Taiwan, British Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. In 1986, ALFC merged with AFC.
The following article gives a list of association football confederations, sub-confederations and associations around the world. The sport's international governing body is FIFA, but those associations not affiliated with FIFA are also included in this article.
The AFC Champions League Elite is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition in Asian football, played by the national league champions of their national associations.
The Mongolia national football team represents Mongolia in international football and is controlled by the Mongolian Football Federation.
The AFC Women's Asian Cup is a quadrennial competition in women's football for national teams which belong to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the oldest women's international football competition and premier women's football competition in the AFC region for national teams. The competition is also known as the Asian Women's Football Championship and the Asian Women's Championship. 20 tournaments have been held, with the current champions being China PR. The competitions until 2026 also serve as Asian qualifying tournament for the FIFA Women's World Cup.
The AFC Champions League Two is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC Champions League Elite and above the AFC Challenge League.
The 7th Asian Games, also known as Tehran 1974, were held from 1 to 16 September 1974 in Tehran, Iran. The Aryamehr Sports Complex was built for the Games. This marked the first time the Asian Games were hosted in the Middle East. Tehran, the capital of Iran, played host to 3,010 athletes coming from 25 countries/NOCs, the highest number of participants since the inception of the Games.
The AFC Challenge Cup was an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries that were categorised as "emerging countries" in the "Vision Asia" programme. It was created by former AFC president Mohammed Bin Hammam as the AFC's plan for a continent-wide programme to raise the standards of Asian football. The AFC Challenge Cup was created for teams to experience playing in a continental competition, with the possibility to win an AFC trophy and potentially discover new talents.
There are a wide variety of sports played and followed in Iraq. Football is the most popular sport and hobby in Iraq. Football is a considerable uniting factor, following years of war and unrest. Basketball, swimming, weightlifting, bodybuilding, taekwondo, boxing, kickboxing, and tennis are also popular sports and hobbies.
Association football and basketball are the most popular sports in Asia. Cricket is the third most popular sport in Asia, and is most popular in South Asia. Other popular sports in Asia include baseball, badminton and table tennis among others. There are also some traditional sports that are popular in certain regions of Asia, such as the South Asian sports kabaddi and kho-kho, and sepak takraw in Southeast Asia. Top sporting nations/regions in Asia include China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The Mongolia national football team represents Mongolia in international football under the control of the Mongolian Football Federation (MFF). Founded in 1959, the federation was inactive between 1961 and 1997 and the men's national team did not feature in any international fixtures during that time. The federation was reorganised in 1997 and joined the AFC the same year. In 1998 the federation became a full member of FIFA, the international governing body for the sport. The MFF joined the EAFF as one of eight founding members in May 2002. Because of the harsh climate and a lack of suitable venues, the team has hosted few home matches in the past. However, in 2002 the MFF, with assistance from FIFA, began developing facilities in the country, including the creation of the 5,000-seat MFF Football Centre, which will allow the team to play more matches in Mongolia. About Mongolia's relatively low number of matches played, former national team player and coach Zorigtyn Battulga said, "Lack of games is a problem. No one will come to Mongolia in December and for us to fly to other countries is very expensive so it’s hard to arrange official matches."
Sport in Saudi Arabia is an important part of Saudi Arabian culture and the country participates in many international sporting competitions along with multiple esport competitions. Football is a particularly popular sport and Saudi Arabia has won the Asian Cup on three occasions, while other sports such as cricket and basketball are also widely followed.
The 2012 AFC President's Cup was the eighth edition of the AFC President's Cup, a football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "emerging countries" in Asia.
Khaan Khuns-Erchim Football Club is a professional football club from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia who have been playing in the Mongolian Premier League, which they have won ten times, since its inaugural year in 1996. The Mongolian Football Federation applied to enter the 2012 AFC President's Cup, and was approved by the AFC in November 2011. As winners of the 2012 Super Cup, Erchim were awarded the place in the competition. In 2017 the club qualified for the AFC Cup, becoming the first Mongolian club to do so.
Sports in Nepal comprise both traditional Nepalese and modern international games. Even though there is no exact research and data, the most popular sport in Nepal is cricket followed by football and volleyball. On 23 May 2017, volleyball was also declared as national sport of Nepal. Before 2017, traditional games like dandi biyo and kabbadi were considered as the de facto national games.
The Mongolia women's national football team represents Mongolia in international women's association football. the team is governed by Mongolian Football Federation (MFF) and competes in AFC and EAFF women's competitions. the Mongolian team's first activity was in 2018 when they entered for the first time the preliminary round of 2019 EAFF Women's E-1 Football Championship.