Vietnamese players celebrating Nguyễn Xuân Son's goal against Thailand at the AFF Championship. Should a Nations League-style tournament be held in Asia, Việt Nam and Thailand could be meeting each other more. VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyết

Anh Đức

As the club football season draws to a pause and makes way for international matches, we have a chance to wind down and look at the state of international and continental tournaments.

With 47 full member associations, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) boasts the second-largest number of associations, second only to UEFA, which has 55. However, the only two times teams in the AFC have a chance to meet are either during the World Cup qualifiers or the quadrennial AFC Asian Cup.

It is also evident that a wide gap exists between the top footballing nations and the rest of the associations, which would widen if these nations were not able to meet more regularly.

As I was watching the UEFA Nations League and researching its format, I think the idea of organising an 'AFC Nations League' would be one of the keys to bridging the gap between AFC national teams and further developing the region. 

Let's look at the current format of AFC qualifiers, where the World Cup qualifiers are also the qualifiers for the Asian Cup. Teams that progressed through the AFC's FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Second Round as the top two teams automatically advance to the Asian Cup, while teams in the bottom two progress to the Asian Cup qualifying round.

For the World Cup Qualifiers, the third round groups are dominated by teams from West and East Asia, as well as Australia. Teams from South and Southeast Asia rarely made the cut, with only Việt Nam, Thailand and Indonesia being able to make the third round in recent years, and even then, the chance of progressing through the round and making it to the World Cup is even slimmer.

The UEFA Nations League, to simplify, divides UEFA's 55 member nations into four divisions. Divisions A, B, and C have four groups of four teams, while Division D has two groups of three. The tournament was created in 2018 to replace international friendlies and provide another way for European teams to clash outside the Euros and the World Cup. 

The format of the UEFA Nations League provides a second chance for teams that finish the World Cup/Euro qualifiers' group stage outside the top two positions. For qualification to the 2026 World Cup, along with the twelve group runners-up, the four best Nations League group winners, regardless of their league, are selected for the World Cup play-off round. 

Another reason for the creation of the 'AFC Nations League' is that with the UEFA Nations League and the CONCACAF Nations League being organised to replace international friendlies for these two confederations, the number of friendly oppositions for Asian teams is shrinking quickly, which would eventually lead to AFC teams playing... AFC teams in friendlies. And without a tournament, it would be very hard to see South Korea, Japan or Australia playing against Laos, Cambodia or Brunei.

A Nations League-style tournament provides incentives for a national team to progress, even from the lowest league. Go up a division, and you get two chances to play a team of greater strength, and if you're able to win your group, you have another lifeline should you not qualify directly for continental and international tournaments, which is always a win-win situation. 

Where would Việt Nam fit in the hypothetical Asian Nations League then? As there are 47 teams in the AFC, it is best to divide these into two divisions (A and B) of 12 teams and one division (C) of 11 teams.

According to the current FIFA rankings, Kim Sang-sik's team is the nineteenth best team in Asia, which would pit them in Division B, where teams such as Thailand, China, Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan are present. A great draw of groups could grant the Golden Star Warriors a chance to meet Asia's top teams, should they win the group and get promoted. 

And that always sounds better than the national team playing a V.League 1 club for a hybrid friendly. VNS