Why is Australia playing in the Asian Cup?

In addition to Australia and New Zealand, the members of the Oceania Football Association are some Pacific island countries, and the level is only amateur, so only New Zealand is the only strong challenger for the Oceania championship. Given the overall strength of the Oceania region, FIFA has only granted half of the World Cup a place. The winner of the Oceania zone in the World Cup qualifiers must battle the fifth place finish in South America to qualify.

Many commentators and fans believe that the way to reach the World Cup is to break away from the Oceania zone, including former captain and commentator Warren. In 2005, the Australian Football Federation hereby requested the Oceania Football Association and the International Football Association to secede from the Oceania Football Association and join the Asian Football Federation. On March 23, the Asian region unanimously decided to invite Australia to join the region, on April 17, the Oceania Football Association recognized Australia's request, and on June 30, the FIFA allowed Australia to join the Asian Football Federation, and on January 1, 2006, it officially became the 46th member of the Asian Football Federation, and could participate in the Asian Cup qualifiers held in February 2006.

On 22 February 2006, Australia made their first regional appearance as a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), beating Bahrain 3-1 in the Asian Cup qualifiers to claim their first victory. Other factors for joining the AFC include facing more challenging opponents to raise the bar for the sport in the country. Being zoned as an ASIAN also means that Australian league teams can compete in the AFC Champions League.

In fact, it is Australia itself a state, and if he qualifies directly, everyone will be unhappy, so he must be with other states, but other states are stronger and the competition is fierce, and he will participate in Asia. Hey, hey, laugh and don't say anything.

Entered Asia and joined the AFC.

Australia only applied for the AFC **, completely in order to be more conducive to the World Cup, because Oceania only has one place, so although Australia can get this place in each qualifier, but because it needs to play play-offs with Central and North America or other regions, Australia has failed to reach the World Cup finals for several consecutive years.

Therefore, Australia's bid for the AFC, with Australia's strength, can be directly qualified, and there is no need to play play-offs.

Ostensibly, Australia is gone, and the AFC has lost a spot. But the AFC agreed to Australia's accession, and it also has its own small calculations.

The then AFC President Hamman elaborated on the benefits of Australia's accession to the AFC from two aspects, which is beneficial to the AFC, first of all, the level of Australian football is very high, and their participation will promote the improvement of the overall level of Asian football; On the other hand, Australia is a huge market and has a relatively developed economy, and the economy is an indispensable element for the development of football.

As for the expansion of the Asian quota to 8 in 2026, it is still one:

In fact, it is even more unlikely to kick out Australia. Since Australia in Oceania is unique, even if Australia returns to Oceania, I am afraid that there will only be one place, because if one place is given, it is equivalent to giving it to Australia for nothing.

And if Asia kicks out Australia, it is likely that it will not get 8 or 1 quota places for FIFA. After all, the Australian level is still okay.

Because there are few regional countries in Australia, they are turned into Asian regional competitions.

Because there are so few countries in Oceania, there is no need to get another cup.

Australia belongs to Oceania, but due to the small number of football federation places in Oceania, it is difficult for Australia to stand out, Australia joined the Oceania Football League (OFC) in 1966, and only twice through the continental play-offs, won South Korea and Uruguay respectively to enter the World Cup.

It hasn't been to the World Cup for 40 years. As a result, Australia decided to withdraw from the Oceania Football Confederation in 2005 and switched to the AFC.

The FIFA World Cup, referred to as the "World Cup", is a football event that symbolizes the highest honor in football and has the greatest popularity and influence by national teams from all over the world. The World Cup has been televised to more than 3.5 billion viewers worldwide.

The World Cup is held every four years, and any FIFA member state (region) can send a team to register for this event.

Due to the popularity of the theme song of the 1998 World Cup and its huge influence in the football world for a long time, it is known as the "Cup of Life". The Brazilian national team is the team with the most accolades, winning five World Cups and permanently retaining the Remet Cup, the trophy of its predecessor, after three World Cup victories.

The birthplace of modern football is England, whose team won the World Cup for the first time in 1966. The current World Cup trophy is the Hercules Cup, which was first lifted by four-time World Cup winners Germany in 1974 and has been used ever since. In the 2002 South Korea-Japan World Cup, China qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time.

Australia joins the AFC for the following reasons:

Australia originally belonged to the Oceanian team, but when they participated in the World Cup qualifiers, because the overall football level in Oceania was not high, they could only be allocated half of the places.

Australia in Oceania, even if it has already won the first place, there is no guarantee that it has already qualified for the World Cup. It has to compete with teams from other continents for the remaining half of the spots.

But Australia's strength is not absolutely outstanding, and it is very likely that it will not be able to kick others. So, in 2006, the Australian team joined Asia (AFC) and became an Asian team.

Australian team strength: Rough lead.

The Australian football team is ranked 38th in the world and has reached a peak of 14th in the world. The Australian football team is a strong team in the Asian region, and they are also very high in the Asian rankings. Australia have played in the World Cup five times in their history and finished in the round of 16, and it is quite rare for them to be ranked 38th among the top 32 teams in the 2022 World Cup.

Australia is a member of the AFC, so it will participate in the Asian Cup.

In 2005, the Australian Football Federation formally applied to the Oceania Football Federation and FIFA to join the AFC from the Oceania Football Confederation. On March 23, the Asian region unanimously decided to invite Australia to join the region, on April 17, the Oceania Football Confederation recognized Australia's request, and on June 30, FIFA allowed Australia to join the AFC.

On 1 January 2006, Australia officially became the 46th member of the AFC and was able to participate in the Asian Cup qualifiers to be held in February 2006.

Australia is part of the Asian Cup because Australia has joined the AFC since January 1, 2006, and the Asian Cup is a tournament organized by the AFC, so Australia can participate.

For the World Cup spot, the Australian men's football team originally belonged to the Oceania Federation. Since there are only one place in the Oceania Qualifiers, play-offs need to be played against other continents. New Zealand are by far the best team in the Oceania Confederation, while Australia are not guaranteed to win the competition.

On the other hand, the Asian region has a place in the World Cup. Four of them are guaranteed to advance, and with Australia's strength, they are considered strong teams in the Asian region, so they will join the AFC.

To improve the level of competition, the traditional strong teams in Asia include Japan, South Korea, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. When Australia joins the AFC, they will be able to play against teams from these countries and improve their performance.

To increase its influence, the AFC often organizes large-scale competitions, such as the Asian Cup, through which Australian players can increase their visibility, so as to obtain larger contracts, and can also improve the competitive level of Australian football to a certain extent.

Development of the Asian Cup

The AFC Asian Cup is an international football team competition hosted by AFC Honghe, which is the highest level and most influential football competition in Asia. The Asian Cup is held every four years and is open to all members of the AFC.

In 1956, the first Asian Cup finals were held in Hong Kong, with four teams participating, and South Korea won the championship. As of 2019, the AFC Asian Cup has been successfully held for 17 sessions. From 1997 to 2017, the winner of the Asian Cup could represent the AFC in the FIFA Confederations Cup.

The Asian Cup is the world's second-oldest continental national team (representative team) competition, after the Copa America, which was founded in 1916, one year before the first African Cup of Nations (1957), and four years before the first European Nations Cup (founded in 1960, now known as the European Football Championship).

On October 17, 2022, the AFC Kuala Lumpur Executive Committee meeting, after a clear vote, the AFC decided that Qatar will become the host of the 2023 Asian Cup, and the 2023 AFC Asian Cup will be held from January 12 to February 10, 2024 local time.

On February 1, 2023, the 33rd AFC Congress in Bahrain officially confirmed that the 2027 Asian Cup will be held in Saudi Arabia.

This is because the Australian Football Association has joined the AFC and has become a key part of Asian football. Transcript.

Just as the Kazakh Football Association joined UEFA and they played in the European Championship qualifiers.