The UEFA Champions League is the unquestioned, undisputed standard bearer of world football. The second best club competition, which is actually the UEFA Cup, but for parody's sake lets say the Copa Libertadores doesn't compare in terms of pomp, circumstance, and most importantly, money. This puts into perspective the size of the mountain the Asian Football Confederation faces as it attempts to catch, and yes, one day pass, UEFA as football's colossus.

The Guardian's sports blog recently explained the length's the AFC has gone to in an effort to improve it's continental competitions, the Asian Champions League and it the secondary AFC Cup. A new ratings system (possibly modeled on, but not at all like UEFA's complicated coefficient system) has been brought into place to govern the allocation of spots given out. Unsurprising to anyone, Japan tops the list. The land of the rising sun was given four spots, with Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia, China PR, Iran, and the UAE receiving the same amount (although the Emirates have to qualify one of their four teams). Other spots were given to Australia, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, and Qatar (two each). Teams from Singapore, India, Thailand, and Vietnam get a chance in the qualifying round.

Quietly there have been small steps toward this goal on national fronts as well. Japan's J. League has been an incredible success while Korea's K-League (starting to see a trend here?) has benefited from World Cup stadiums and fresh investment. This year will see the first ever fully professional league in the UAE. Progress in China and Australia has also been very encouraging, and perhaps more notably, India continues to work out the kinks as the game continues to improve there.

There is money in Asian football, a lot of it. From a gas-powered Uzbek club rife with controversy, to a team pushed forward by the global dynamo that is Samsung, to the obvious oil money flowing through the middle east. The problem will be attracting big names without breaking the clubs. Ibraki isn't Madrid, and Jeddah can't compare with Milan. The solution may be in the grassroots, and I've often questioned how much of that money is put back into the game itself. Japan has mandated that all J1 clubs have fully functioning youth teams, this wouldn't be a bad idea for all of Asia to follow.

Time will tell as to whether or not Asia can mount a serious challenge to Europe's domination of the game, but no one can say they don't dream big, and they're surely planning to try.

And if you have a moment, please check out my friend's video. She worked very hard on it, and it's worth a look. :) Hi, Janey.

Gosh, I haven't blogged here in ages. I'm a personal assistant, and anyone with experience in that line of work knows of the time it takes. I don't mind though, I'm quite fond of my job.

At the moment my chronic insomnia is driving me insane and I felt a strange urge to write about Indian football. I'm not sure why, I'm not Indian nor do I have any connection to India, but I am intrigued by the state of football outside of it's traditional bastions of power.

Despite it's status as the world's second most populous nation, India is rarely ever considered a sporting powerhouse. In many ways this statement is unfair, as India is one of cricket's foremost powers and has been an historical power in field hockey. However, despite successes in other sports, India has never fared well in the arena of football.

Indian football suffers largely from a lack of funds and infrastructure. Many Indian football supporters will say that they feel football is largely ignored by authorities in favor of cricket, and occasionally field hockey. These criticisms are not without merit when one compares India's publicly owned cricket venues to their football counterparts, outwith Salt Lake Stadium the difference is almost night and day. Because of this it appears that Indian football will not be able to depend upon governmental assistance and therefore the vital changes to the game must come from within. And slowly, they are...

In 2007 the All India Football Federation (or AIFF) announced the formation of the I-League. The idea behind the I-League is to make football a truly professional sport in India, while many of the top clubs in the old National Football League did pay players, the lower clubs were rather questionable, the introduction of the I-League was meant to remedy this.

As with anything, the I-League has not been without it's detractors. That said, these voiced seem to have been drowned out by those in support of the new league, including sponsors willing to inject much needed sums of money into the game.

While the game is improving with the introduction of the I-League, it still suffers from a lack of reach at the highest level. Despite being India's 4th smallest state in terms of population, and smallest in terms of area, Goa supplies four of the I-League First Division's twelve clubs. India's two largest cities, Mumbai and Kolkata together account for a further seven, while only one other city (Phagwara, Punjab) boasts a top level club. That said, Kolkata is the heart of Indian football, and Goa the soul, so these areas are obviously going to have more clubs than others. But in order to grow the sport the AIFF must help develop it all through-out the nation and foster interest in new areas, but at the same time, they mustn't lose their soul

In conclusion, while they're some way off from challenging the likes of Germany and Brazil, or even Korea or Japan, India is no longer in football's dark ages. Recently India was award a qualifying spot in the AFC Champions League,  on Feb. 25 Goa's Dempo will face off with Sharjah from the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is actually a minor club power in Asian football, so it will be a real test of Dempo, and India's mettle.

In 2009 the city of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan will host the 8th edition of the World Games. Due to it's status as an Olympic sport Football is not on the program for the World Games but there is very little doubt that the World Games Stadium will host several Taiwan/Chinese Taipei national team matches following it's completion.

While the stadium features the dreaded athletics track it more than makes up for it with it's self-sufficient solar energy system. If the stadium receives enough sunlight it will be able to provide 80% of it's required energy while hosting events, and provide a surplus which will be sold back to the municipality when not hosting events. This is a huge step forward as stadium roofs cover a lot of room and the potential for solar energy is huge. The WG Stadium is not the first stadium in the world to take advantage of it's roof area for solar use, Basel's St-Jakob Park, which will host matches at the upcoming European Championships, is also an example.

The stadium was designed by the innovative Japanese architect Toyo Ito who has designed several notable buildings throughout east and southeast Asia. If the stadium goes as planned it will be in stark contrast to the many domed stadiums, such as the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, which dot the American landscape and could serve as a wake-up call of sorts for Western architects and developers.