Sports in Central Asia

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The area of Central Asia has a wide variety of sports, many of which have close cultural ties to the countries involved.

Contents

International Sports

Football

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:

Domestic Sports

Wrestling

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.

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The Mongolia national football team represents Mongolia in international football and is controlled by the Mongolian Football Federation.

ASEAN Football Federation

The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) is a smaller organisation within the greater Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and centres on Southeast Asia, founded in 1984 by the nations of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. ASEAN stands for Association of Southeast Asian Nations, although the AFF also includes Australia and East Timor, who are both currently not a part of the regional intergovernmental organization.

Mongolian Football Federation

The Mongolian Football Federation is the governing body of football in Mongolia. It was founded in 1959, and gained both FIFA and AFC affiliation in 1998. Its top league is the National Premier League.

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Mongolia national football team results Wikimedia list article

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."

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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 FC Association football club in Mongolia

Khaan Khuns - Erchim FC 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.

Cambodia womens national football team Womens national association football team representing Cambodia

The Cambodia women's national football team represents Cambodia in international women's association football and is governed by Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC). While the national federation was founded in 1933 and has received support from Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the development of women's football has been slow with football not the most popular women's sport in the country. The women's first national championship was not held until 2010. The senior team had its first match in June 2018.

The Nepalese play many sports at national as well as at international level. The most common sport played in Nepal is cricket followed by football. The Nepal national cricket team has achieved great achievements in comparison to other sport including participation in World Cup, cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane's participation in international leagues and gaining the One Day International status. Nepal's national sport is volleyball, officially declared on 23 May 2017.

The 2020 AFC Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

References

  1. Association Football
  2. Asian Football Confederation
  3. http://www.the-afc.com/eng/nassoc/zone.jsp_3-269-1.html [ bare URL ]