Football is among the most popular sports in Japan, together with baseball, tennis, golf, sumo, and combat sports. Its nationwide organization, the Japan Football Association, administers the professional football leagues, including J.League, which is considered by many the most successful football league in Asia. Japan is also the country with the most comprehensively developed football in Asia in both men and women as well as in both futsal and beach soccer.
The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is the governing body of association football in the Philippines. Established as the Philippine Amateur Football Association (PAFA) in 1907, the PFF is one of the oldest national football associations in Asia and is among the founding members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The PAFA reorganized as the Philippine Football Association (PFA), and later as the Philippine Football Federation.
The Asian Footballer of the Year awards are annual prizes awarded to the best Asian player in a calendar year.
Therdsak Chaiman, simply known as Uncle Therd, is a Thai professional football manager and former player.
The Japan women's national football team, commonly known as Nadeshiko Japan (なでしこジャパン), represents Japan in women's association football and is run by the Japan Football Association (JFA). The only country to win every FIFA competition and the most successful women's national team in the Asian Football Confederation, its highest ranking in the FIFA Women's World Rankings is 3rd, achieved in December 2011.
Over the centuries, Uzbekistan has had a tradition of fostering equestrians and wrestlers (palvins). Some of the sports that originate in the country are the kurash, which is a type of upright wrestling. Other types of wrestling are belbogli kurash, turon, and boyqurgan all having the same origins. Other popular sports in Uzbekistan are football, boxing, wrestling, futsal, and judo.
Timur Kapadze is an Uzbekistani former professional football midfielder of Ahiska-Turkish descent.
Server Reshatovich Djeparov is an Uzbek former professional football playmaker who is the head coach of Uzbekistan U-14 and the assistant coach of Uzbekistan. He has won the Asian Footballer of the Year award twice, first in 2008 and the other in 2011.
Seyed Hadi Aghily is a former Iranian professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Known for his toughness, positioning and intelligent movement, he was nominated for the Asian Player of The Year award twice in 2009 and 2011.
Vahid Shamsaei is an Iranian professional futsal coach and former player. He was a Pivot and he scored 392 goals in international matches. He is currently head coach of Iran national futsal team. Shamsaei has been named AFC Futsal Player of the Year on three occasions. He has also won eight AFC Futsal Championships with Iran. Shamsaei is regarded as the Ali Daei of futsal by the Asian Football Confederation.
The Japan national futsal team, nicknamed Samurai Five, represents Japan in international futsal competitions and is controlled by the Japan Football Association.
Azamat Abduraimov is a former Uzbek professional football player, who represented Uzbekistan national football team on 22 occasions between 1992 and 1997.
Bluewave Chonburi Futsal Club is a Thai Futsal club. They currently play in the Futsal Thailand League.
The Japan national under-23 football team is a national association football youth team of Japan and is controlled by the Japan Football Association. The team won the gold medal at the 2010 Asian Games and were champions in the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship. Since 1992, it was decided that teams targeting athletes under the age of 23 will participate in the Olympics. Therefore, the name changes to Japan national under-22 football team the year before the Olympics and Japan national under-21 football team two years prior. The exception to this was the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which was postponed one year, so in 2021, the team was called the Japan national under-24 football team.
The Vietnam national futsal team represents Vietnam in international futsal and is governed by Vietnam Football Federation. They played twice World Cup in 2016 and 2021 and reached to the knockout-stage in both.
Niloofar Ardalan, also known as Niloofar Ardallani, is an Iranian coach and former player of football and futsal who played in the Iranian women's national football team and the Iranian women's national futsal team and was captain in both teams. She played for the Rah Ahan Football Club team as well as the Futsal Clubs teams of Tejarat Khane Bandar Abbas, Persepolis, and the Islamic Azad University of Tehran.
Norio Sasaki is a Japanese football coach and former player who is currently the general manager of Omiya Ardija Ventus. He is best known for leading the Japan women's national team to their first and only FIFA Women's World Cup win in 2011 over the United States on penalty kicks. He retired as head coach in March 2016 after eight years. Sasaki also coached the Japan women's U-20 national team starting in 2007.
The history of football in India is a long and detailed one, as it was the national sport at one time. The impetus for this was to unify the Indian Army. There is evidence of football games being played in the army since at least 1949. India is home to some of the oldest football clubs in the world, and the world's third oldest competition, the Durand Cup. There was a time when football in India was highly celebrated. The Indian football outfit was called the "Brazilians of Asia".
The 2012 AFC Annual Awards was the top football players and coaches of the year in Asia.
Miguel Rodrigo is a Spanish Futsal coach. Miguel Rodrigo had successful spell between 2009 and 2016 with Japan which won two titles of AFC Futsal Championship under his guidance. Due to his depth of tactics and formations, he was dubbed by the Japanese media and fans as The Magician.
Server Djeparov 
Aya Miyama 
Caitlin Foord 
Mohammad Keshavarz 
