Asia’s strongest League in the 1st Decade of the 21st Century (2001-2010)

 Each year The strongest League in the World is determined from the top five clubs of each country which scored the highest in the Club World Ranking during that calendar year. This ranking is determined from the results of matches played at the national championships and FA cups as well as at international club competitions of the six continental Confederations and FIFA. For a valid international comparison, international competitions must be lent more weight. To that end, each league is limited to five clubs, given that every year an average of five teams from the traditional footballing nations participate at the continental club competitions. Not all of these five internationally active clubs from each league are included in the calculations if other clubs which did not play at continental competitions scored more points. The strongest footballing nations in the world, which send more clubs to the various continental competitions, have the advantage that only their five top scoring teams are taken into account.

  Thus it is possible to determine the strongest leagues of all six football continents according to the same principle: by adding the points which each country’s national league scored in the world ranking of the strongest leagues every year from 2001 to 2010. This is done separately for each continent. Hence, the top league in each table is the strongest of its continent for the first decade of the 21st century. The Asian rankings only include those countries affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), although not all of them are strong enough to be considered.

 In 2005 Football Federation Australia (FFA) left the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) with FIFA’s approval and joined the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). As of 2006, Australian clubs are affiliated with AFC, and participate in its club competitions. Starting with 2006, then, the Australian league is no longer to be included in the Oceanian, but henceforth in the Asian strongest league rankings. For the world ranking of the strongest league in the first decade of the 21st century, however, both continental rankings will be added for Australia. Likewise for Israel, which is now affiliated with UEFA and therefore included in the European rankings.

  After nine of ten years, Japan’s J League tops the Asian continental ranking, ahead of the national leagues of the Republic of Korea and Saudi Arabia. They are followed by Iran, China, Uzbekistan, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait, with India bringing up the rear of Asia’s top 10.  Iraq, once a powerhouse of Asian football, was destroyed by Gulf War II and the (still ongoing) sectarian fighting which followed it. The country has since been unable to hold a annual and regular national football competitions, and Iraqi clubs often have had to stay away from AFC club competitions. Without these problems, however, the Iraqi league would surely place amongst Asia’s top 7.

 The Syrian league improved 2010 and dived out the Indian league still from the "Top 10". Besides the leagues of Jordan, Lebanon and Oman have improved theirs places in 2010. The best-placed league of those leagues, which belong to to the weakest group of performance, is those of Turkmenistan (22nd).  Asia’s strongest League in the 1st Decade of the 21st Century (2001-2010) is the Japanese J-League Division 1 ahead of the Korean K-League and the Zain Saudi Professional League. The fourth-best Asian league is the Iran Pro League ahead of the Chinese Super League and Uzbekistan Professional Football League. It follow four leagues from Middle East (UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Syria).  

IFFHS

Asia‘s ranking of the national leagues of the 1st Decade of the 21st Century ("Top 25"):