Mendez, who led Thailand's national team to the final of the 2008 AFC Fustal Championship where they were beaten 4-0 by the eventual champions Iran, has been working in Asian futsal for more than half a decade observing almost all major continental futsal finals.

“This tournament is very young but you can see the upsurge of the level of futsal as the clubs and national associations are taking this competition very seriously,” the Spaniard told www.the-afc.com.

“Be it in the national competition or club competition, the futsal level is growing in Asia as seven clubs out of eight were the favourites to win this tournament – one of the most competitive tournaments in Asia.

“The foreign players in the clubs are at the top level and they bring more unpredictability to this competition.

“The rapid upsurge of Asian futsal in the recent past shows that the future is Asian futsal which justifies the AFC slogan of ‘The Future is Asia'. Based on my knowledge, I assure you that Asian futsal is fastest growing compared to the rest of the world,” declared Mendez.

Mendez believes that not only the level but the popularity of the Asian game also has increased significantly.

“The main reason of it is the equal level of the sides performing in this competition, only Thai Son Nam of Vietnam struggled but still they grinded out a point and I saw an immaculate presence of skills and technical ability of Thai Son Nam. With the coach they have I am sure Vietnamese futsal will bounce back otherwise all the seven teams could have won this championship.

“Not only futsal at the pitch, but the clubs' preparation for this new competition and the level of organization from AFC and the member associations’ end also have been getting better with each succeeding year. I have seen so many people using AFC’s live streaming even in Europe and America so this competition's viewing is no more confined to Asia.”