Asian football must shape up or it runs the risk of falling behind, according to Alex Soosay, general secretary of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Speaking at the Leaders in Sport Summit in London, Soosay said that Asian football has no option other than adapting to the increasingly competitive nature of the world game. Four Asian countries -- Japan, South Korea, Iran and Australia -- qualified for this year's World Cup finals in Brazil but all of them were eliminated in the group stages after failing to win even a single game.
Targeting a much improved show in the 2018 tournament, Soosay said that the AFC has rung in structural changes to its premier competitions. The intention is to improve quality by making Asian football more broad-based.
"For the Asian Cup, the number of teams will be increased from 16 to 24 for the 2019 edition," Soosay said. "This will give more opportunity for the member associations to be part of Asia's flagship competition. The gap is closing between Asian countries and we are optimistic that Asian football at that level will definitely shine."
Australia will host the 16th edition of the AFC Asian Cup from Jan. 9 and will be looking to win it for the first time since moving from the Oceania confederation in 2006.
Soosay added that the expansion of the final stage of Asian zone qualification for the FIFA World Cup was designed to add depth to the field. "With the new format, eight group winners and four second best teams from the eight groups will qualify for our final round of qualifications. Currently only 10 teams battle it out in the final round of World Cup qualifiers but then we'll have 12 teams and that will add more depth to the competition."
A new rankings' system will be introduced to the premier club competition, the AFC Champions League, from next year to ensure that clubs from more nations become part of it. "With the new rankings system in place, more member associations will participate in the AFC Champions League in 2015 as members ranked from one to 24 are eligible to play," Soosay said.
Football fans on the continent will be hoping that the changes initiated by the AFC will culminate in a much improved Asian campaign at the 2018 World Cup.