AFC 2015 Asian Women's Futsal ChampionshipMalaysia 2015Nilai Gymnasium, Nilai - Kuala Lumpur
2015 September 21-26Group A: Iran, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Hong Kong
Group B: Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam
tournament preview by Mehmet Fatih Kale - Chinese Taipei Women's FutsalAFC invitations were based on participation in the previous two editions of the Asian Indoor Games with the 2013 edition providing the basis for seeding for Japan (1st ranked) and Iran (2nd ranked) while the rest of the nations were unranked during the draw.
Group AIRAN: Iran is one of the most active Women’s Futsal National Teams in Asia and has a proper women’s futsal League. Moreoever, the tradition of Men’s Futsal has positive effect in women’s team.
This combination makes them one of the title contenders .
In Group-A , Iran will face Uzbekistan, Malaysia and Hong Kong. It looks like the group matches will be relatively easy for Iran. But it is to be seen, if this will allow the players to be fresh or on the contrary cause lack of concentration in the semi-final match.
Asian Indoors Games Record:
2007 5th place
2009 4th place
2013 2nd place
Recent Matches (Last 6 months):
8.20 Iran 4 : 1 Uzbekistan
8.18 Iran 8 : 1 Uzbekistan
8.17 Iran 7 : 2 Uzbekistan
5.07 Iran 0 : 5 Spain
5.06 Iran 2 : 3 Russia
Iran Women’s Futsal League (Current Ranking)
1.Meli hafai iran
2.Sepidrod rasht
3.Daneshgah azad tehran
4.Kaspian ghazvin
5.Palayeshnaft abadan
6.Yaran javan bandarabass
7.Rah ahan
8.Bazargani amir noshahr
9.Namayandeh zanjan
10.Heiat football shahriar
11.Ansar veliat tabriz
UZBEKISTAN: Uzbekistan won the first Asian Indoors Games in 2005 , but as other nations started to develop, Uzbeks failed to cash on their early success.
In group-A they will compete against Malaysia and Hong Kong for the second place, and a ticket for the Semi-Final.
It is worth noting, their head-coach could not hold his nerves during the recent friendly match against Iran (August.20) and interrupted the game, contesting the referees for long periods. Hopefully, we will not see this behaviour during the AFC Championship.
Asian Indoors Games Record:
2005 Champions
2007 3rd place
2009 Group stage elimination
2013 Group stage elimination
Recent Matches (Last 6 months):
8.20 Uzbekistan 1 : 4 Iran
8.18 Uzbekistan 1 : 8 Iran
8.17 Uzbekistan 2 : 7 Iran
MALAYSIA: With Marcelo Serpa mentoring the Malaysian Futsal, it is yet to be seen if the women's team can impact the standings in the group-A. Despite the popularity of Futsal in Malaysia, players are mostly part-time and lack regular training/competition. This could be the main cause for women's futsal team to struggle in international competition.
Asian Indoors Games Record:
2007 7th place
2009 Group stage elimination
2013 Group stage elimination
Recent Matches (Last 6 months):
---None---
HONG KONG: Hong Kong started their Women's Futsal Program in 2013. National Futsal team players are mainly from the National Football Team.
It is not yet clear if their 3 best players will be available for the AFC Championship as they are playing football in Japan.
Asian Indoors Games Record:
2013 Group stage elimination
Recent Matches (Last 6 months):
---None---
Upcoming Matches :
Sep.10 vs Taipei-SCSC Club
Sep.11 vs Taipei-SCSC Club
Group BJAPAN: Most successful Women's Futsal Team in Asian, Japan is the strongest contender for the gold medal in this first AFC Championship.
Altough there is no unified league system in Japan, KANTO League around Tokyo region and KANSAI League around Kobe/Osaka Region have proper futsal clubs with dedicated players , coaches and good level of regular training. Many of the women's futsal teams in Japan are connected to men's teams of the F.League and top regional leagues.It is also worth the mention some Japanese players have overseas experience , mainly Shiori Nakajima who has been playing in Spain (Diamante Logrono) for some time now. Along with Nakajima, one of the most dangerous player in Japanese team will be Chikage Kichibayashi who has excelent technique.
Asian Indoors Games Record:
2007 Champions
2009 Champions
2013 Champions
Recent Matches (Last 6 months):
7.17 Japan 4 : 1 Hyogo Selection Team (Japan)
7.19 Japan 0 : 0 Catalonia Selection Team (Spain)
7.20 Japan 5 : 2 Taipei-SCSC Club (Taiwan)
THAILAND: Thailand, like Japan and Iran has used men's futsal experience in developing women's futsal, and is one of the possible candidates to win the Championship. However, their group match against Japan will play an important role, as group standings will decide who plays Iran in the semi-final, on the path to the final. (In 2007 A.I.G. Thailand faced Japan in the final, and tied the match 2 : 2 only to loose the gold medal in the PK shootout.)
Asian Indoors Games Record:
2005 2nd place
2007 2nd place
2009 3rd place
2013 3rd place
Recent Matches (Last 6 months):
---N.A.---
CHINA: China is a mystery team, participating in women's international competitions on and off, with no regularity. However, considering the resources they have, China could be a dark horse in group B.
Asian Indoors Games Record:
2013 Group stage elimination
Recent Matches (Last 6 months):
---None---
Upcoming Matches:
Sep.2 vs Taipei-SCSC Club
Sep.3 vs Taipei-SCSC Club
VIETNAM: Despite having good potential, Vietnam is unable perform as well as they could due to lack of regular Futsal training and competition. It would be a big surprise if they would cause an upset in group stage.
Asian Indoors Games Record:
2007 4th place
2009 Group stage elimination
2013 Group stage elimination
Recent Matches (Last 6 months):
---None---
Posted by
Luca Ranocchiari -->
luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com 
