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.
Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) (lit. 'International Federation of Association Football') is an international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach football, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, its membership now comprises 211 national associations. These national associations must also be members of one of the six regional confederations: CAF (Africa), AFC (Asia), UEFA (Europe), CONCACAF (North & Central America and the Caribbean), OFC (Oceania), and CONMEBOL (South America).
FIFA is a sports governing body that organizes football events all over the world. FIFA outlines several objectives in its organizational statutes, including growing football internationally, ensuring it is accessible to everyone, and advocating for integrity and fair play. It is responsible for organizing and promoting football's major international tournaments, notably the World Cup which began in 1930, and the Women's World Cup which commenced in 1991. Although FIFA does not solely set the laws of the game, that being the responsibility of the International Football Association Board of which FIFA is a member, it applies and enforces the rules across all FIFA competitions. All FIFA tournaments generate revenue from sponsorships; in 2022, FIFA had revenues of over US$5.8 billion, ending the 2019–2022 cycle with a net positive of $1.2 billion, and cash reserves of over $3.9 billion.
The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup.
Qualifying tournaments are held within the six FIFA continental zones, each organized by their respective confederations: AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North and Central America and the Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe). For each World Cup, FIFA decides the number of places in the finals allocated to each of the zones, based on the numbers and relative strengths of the confederations' teams.
The Singapore national football team, nicknamed The Lions, represents Singapore in the senior men's international football. It is organised by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), the governing body of football in Singapore, which is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF). The team's colours are red and white. Singapore has one of the oldest national teams in Asia, with the FAS being the oldest football association in the continent itself.
Despite the country having a small population pool, it has historically punched above its weight by successively producing squads that has fiercely competed with its larger and much more populated neighbours. This can be seen in its most significant successes, which have come in the regional AFF Championship, whereby Singapore had won four times in 1998, 2004, 2007, and 2012. Singapore was the first team to achieve this feat and the only team to win in all the finals that they had played. In 1998, Singapore defeated Vietnam in the final to capture the country's first major international football title. In the 2004–05 competition, Singapore defeated Indonesia in a two-leg final 5–2 on aggregate. Singapore retained the trophy in 2007, beating Thailand 3–2 on aggregate in the final. In 2012, Singapore won the trophy a record 4th time, again defeating three-time champions Thailand 3–2 on aggregate in the final.
The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest tier of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as the premier football league in Asia, having the highest ranking among AFC club competitions.
Al-Hilal is the most successful club in the top-tier Saudi football league, amassing a record 21 titles, with their latest triumph in the 2023–24 season. Other prominent clubs, such as Al-Shabab, Al-Ittihad, and Al-Nassr, have contributed significantly to the league's history. Since 2023, the SPL has achieved greater global recognition, fueled by strategic developments under the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative. The nation's Public Investment Fund acquired 75% stakes in four foundational clubs—Al-Ahli, Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal, and Al-Nassr, investing large amounts of money to bring players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema to the league. These efforts have increased the prominence of the SPL in world football.
In total, 86 male footballers to date have scored at least 50 goals with their national team at senior level, according to FIFA documents, RSSSF and IFFHS statistics. Since October 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has also been publishing a list, but only of the top 10. Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal holds the all-time record with 143 international goals.
Brazil, Hungary, Iran and Kuwait hold the record of having the most players to have scored 50 or more international goals with four each. England, France, Iraq, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand each have three players who have achieved the feat. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has the highest number of footballers who scored at least 50 international goals, with 35 players. Egypt is the only African team with more than one player who has scored at least 50 international goals, after Mohamed Salah achieved the feat on 24 March 2023.
Fédération Internationale des Associations de Football (FIFA) (lit. 'International Federation of Football Associations') is an international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach football, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, its membership now comprises 211 national associations. These national associations must also be members of one of the six regional confederations: CAF (Africa), AFC (Asia), UEFA (Europe), CONCACAF (North & Central America and the Caribbean), OFC (Oceania), and CONMEBOL (South America).
FIFA is a sports governing body that organises football events all over the world. FIFA outlines several objectives in its organisational statutes, including growing football internationally, ensuring it is accessible to everyone, and advocating for integrity and fair play. It is responsible for organising and promoting football's major international tournaments, notably the World Cup which began in 1930, and the Women's World Cup which commenced in 1991. Although FIFA does not solely set the laws of the game, that being the responsibility of the International Football Association Board of which FIFA is a member, it applies and enforces the rules across all FIFA competitions. All FIFA tournaments generate revenue from sponsorships; in 2022, FIFA had revenues of over US$5.8 billion, ending the 2019–2022 cycle with a net positive of $1.2 billion, and cash reserves of over $3.9 billion.
The Qatar national football team (Arabic: منتخب قطر لكرة القدم), nicknamed "The Maroons", represents Qatar in international football, and is controlled by the Qatar Football Association, which is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and comes under the global jurisdiction of world football’s governing body FIFA. They play their home games at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium. The latter is considered the home stadium.
The team won the Arabian Gulf Cup in 1992, 2004 and 2014. They have appeared in ten Asian Cup tournaments and won it twice in 2019 and 2023, beating Japan, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea in the process during 2019, conceding just one goal.
The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC, and UEFA), along with the current FIFA World Cup holder and the host nation, to bring the number of teams up to eight.
Between 2001 and 2017 (with an exception in 2003), the tournament was held in the country that would host the World Cup the following year, acting as a test event for the larger tournament.