In the past week, Asian footy lovers and Arab football hipsters got themselves a reminder for the most exciting club football competition in Asia, and maybe, the world: The AFC Cup.
Yes, indeed, you read it correctly, ladies and gentlemen.
The experience of following and watching the AFC Cup this season is practically everything a modern game’s desperate fan needs, to regain his love and confidence in nowadays football.
The AFC Cup is the complete opposite of what we use to get from modern football. The teams are not those billionaires’ and millionaires’ teams, which dominate the European leagues and UEFA Champions League, or the Qatari or Emirati giants of the AFC Champions League. The AFC Cup teams are mostly modest or low budget clubs with strong identities and connections to their local communities and crowds.
Also, the corruption level at this year’s tournament is ostensibly not that high, as we witnessed in past seasons, or among bigger competitions not long ago. At the 2016 AFC Cup, there are no Jeonbuk, Al-Nasr or Al-Qadsia. Teams are maybe presenting a low level of play, but the interest, the competitiveness and the tension are completely there.
The fact that the football level at the AFC Cup is far from being perfect is actually what makes it more ‘real’. In the modern game, the delicate fan is used to watch Manchester City against Barcelona or Bayern Munich against Atl
ético Madrid every week. AFC Cup offers a wonderful refresher – matches with fewer fans, less pace, less quality, but with a lot of passion, emotions and history in the making on the pitch.
This year’s AFC Cup is a tournament full of passion. When Lebanese club Al-Ahed reached the semifinal, they celebrated in tears. When they tied with Iraqi side Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, they were filled with joy and optimism. But when the team lost at Camille Chamoun at semifinal second leg against Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, the players cried with tears of sorrow. The clubs progress came after years which Lebanese football suffered of mediocrity and went backwards, and the disappointment of the players from not qualifying for the final was authentic, passionate and real.
Emotional as it was, Al-Ahed’s lost was at the shadow of the not less emotional story of the Iraqi Air Force club – Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya. The journey of the Rusafa based club to tournament’s final was simply heroic. Due to Iraq's security conditions, the team holds its home fixtures at the Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Stadium, at Al-Wakrah in Qatar. Basically, they did not have a single genuine home game throughout the whole competition. A team from war-torn Iraq that reached the AFC Cup final is an exciting story that warms millions of Iraqis' hearts in the country and the diaspora and those of neutral fans.
The 2016 AFC Cup is also a historical one. After a tremendous journey, that included eliminating bigger and richer clubs, FC Bengaluru became the first Indian team to qualify for an Asian final. Their semifinal second-leg display against Malaysian giants Johor Darul Ta’zim was a piece of history in the evolving football scenario in India. The passionate fans in Bangalore (21,379) created a terrific atmosphere in the stadium. Besides, this achievement sheds light on the ambivalent situation of the Indian I-League – a continental success for one of the league’s bigger clubs, in front of the smaller clubs' dissolution. Surprisingly or not, the ISL is no longer the source of pride for Indian football fans.
The AFC Cup this year has been an exciting and historical tournament, that provide us with a great final too; open your schedules: November 5th, Saoud bin Abdulrahman, Al-Wakrah, Qatar – the exciting Iraqis host the historical (but not less exciting) Indians; Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya vs FC Bengaluru - the final of the most interesting and exciting tournament of 2016.