We don't have to. K. League and J.League don't. Nor does CSL.

The dangers of reading to much into youth football 

I wouldn't consider U-23's as "youth football". Anyone over the age of 21 should be considered a fully fledged senior player. 

There are several Uzbeks playing in the J.League/CSL. 

That aside, the A-league cannot compare to those leagues on several fronts so not sure why that should be considered a rule. 

Remove salary cap? We don't have to, they don't in xyz. 

Introduce pro/rel? We don't have to because xyz doesn't.

Put logos on sleeves instead of chest? We don't have to because xyz does something else. 

Australian football would benefit in signing young South American players in my opinion. But because the Maltese Premier League and the Mongolian National Premier League don't do it, then we shouldn't either.

Such a lazy, insular excuse. 

The top guys normally end up in the Russian League. 

The best Uzbek player/s are not playing in this tournament. 
This kid is 22
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldor_Shomurodov

21, was captain of the Under 20's at the 2015 World Cup.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otabek_Shukurov

and so on

Not just Uzbek players but some of these Vietnamese players would not look out of place in the a-league too! 

Let's start to embrace Asia and not look for excuses. 

They have their own leagues, why not play a young Australian who's equally as talented ? 

Sure, how many of them have we got?

They left our not so equally talented Australians behind in the group stages and went on to play in the finals.

They parked the bus and hung on for dear life, that's not the making of future quality players 

Plenty as evidenced by Champness Theoharous Atkinson Arzani Italiano etc. 

Some vids on the locals ... great stuff..

From a guy in the US who recorded what he saw.

VIETNAM GOES CRAZY after defeating Qatar in Semi-Finals of AFC U-23 2018!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv4oez9a9Xw
Vietnam soccer finals advance! Highlights and exciting local atmosphere

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amXEqSkjC-U

Vietnam fan celebrate the Historic Victory of U23 Vietnam vs U23 Iraq

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkHqhPG9-8I

Saigon streets after Vietnam's 4-3 win over Qatar in AFC U23 Championship 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQfAzLy02Iw
Saigon Celebrate The Victory Of U23 Vietnam Vs U23 Qatar (AFC U23 Championship 2018)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znDw0NOJB_A

I know bro...   and it is likely that some of this Young Socceroo team that didn't make it out of the group stage will go on and represent the senior team and qualify for the world cup, while Vietnam and Uzbekistan will not.

I've followed their national team for a while now. This U23 is different, perhaps under the guidance of their new Korean coach Park, they actually play to their strengths and weaknesses. Defending and counter against the stronger teams like Aus, and playing aggressive attacking football against Iraq and Qatar to advance to the final. Its much different to past Vietnamese sides who didn't realize their weaknesses. But they won't be able to bring it up another notch until some of their players leave the V-League. Worth a try for A-League clubs, if we ever enforce the +1 AFC player rule.

Oh great, so they all have A-League contracts, so it'll be good to test them against some affordable talent from Asia.

Glad we sorted that issue out. :)

Yeah you might get a day or two snow per winter in the Shanghai, Wuxi, Changzhou region, but a snowstorm like this is very unusual.
The game should have never taken place in such conditions. Even before the match, the Uzbeks team asked for the match to be postponed. Couldn't even see the ball, they had 3 days snow prior to the final, and the AFC didn't come to their senses to order an orange colour ball from Europe, and the Uzbek's couldn't even see each other with white tops, camouflaged in the snow. But take nothing away from the result, Uzbekisan were the better side that seemed to get stronger in the 2nd half as the snow was falling. They had put 4 goals past Japan and Korea to reach the finally had an epic encounter, not being able to beat Vietnam in 90minutes.
Our young Socceroos and Milicic licking their wounds, Japan will most definitely probe into why they went home so early and make sure there is no repeat, Qatar finished 3rd after beating Korea, Uzbekistan worthy AFC U23 Champions and Vietnam returns home to a heroes welcome.

The ASEAN Football Federation - Suzuki Cup is coming this December. How I'd love for the Socceroos to be part of it.

Scenes at My Dinh stadium - Hanoi when Vietnam equalized .

The thing is there could well be more waiting and we'll never know if we dont see them 

I would take #19 at SFC even just to take set pieces

Would definitely be worth giving it a go. For SFC + MV would be a useful + 1 for ACL. For other clubs that struggle to sign decent foreigners anyway it might prove a pool of talented players with not so high wage demands. 

Let's face it, our existing Aussie youth players at the same age aren't very good. Wy not consider better options overseas?

At SFC i'd certainly take a winger from say Vietnam or Uzbekistan. They'll likely be better than any aussie equivalent other than say Arzani. Will probably be able to finish better and hopefully have decent technique. A good option off the bench

The a-league is to develop its own players and not develop others, but my point is there are plenty of Uzbek and Vietnamese players that would not look of out place.

Scrap the current foreign quota and move towards a 3+1. 

Of all the things stopping young Australian talent getting seen, a few signings from South East Asia aren't one of them.

It's going to be awesome viewing with the clever new home and away format; groups of five with each team having two home games and two away games, followed by home and away semis and final. Would have been so good to be a part of, the FFA are idiots for passing on it.

My god, talk about meaningless Mickey Mouse tournaments. We play at the World Cups and such. There's really no need to compete with Cambodia and Burma in front of 423 people for some entirely meaningless trophy. 

Remember that East Asian cup or whatever we competed in one year under Holger? That was just a massive waste of time, and that included (third string) Japan and South Korea. This ASEAN thing would be even more pointless. 

The a-league is a development league full stop, if you can develop a SEAN youth and sell them for $1mn then why not.

Also, if you look at the pandemonium surrounding the Vietnamese youth team, it isn't hard to imagine young Vietnamese players doing well in the a-league providing a significant amount of interest in our league in those nations, which potentially opens up more potential revenue sources.

No one took the East Asian cup seriuosly.... I agree
But the AFF Cup is a whole other, its no Mickey Mouse tournament and the participating countries take it very seriously. The tournament gets quite high crowd attendance, and its far from pointless for the competing countries. I think its worth us entering.  And judging by how our full strength Socceroo side struggled to put Thailand away recently, I think it won't be a walk in the park for an A League Socceroos side either.

This is nothing like the East Asian Cup. FIFA ranks the game as A International competitive matches, and the amount of importance the countries involve place in it is self evident.

This arrogant view we have of Asia is holding Australian football back on the wrong side of history.

Got an away draw thanks to us getting two penalties and just scraped a 2-1 win at home thanks to an 86th minute goal when we needed more, and only just made it to the World Cup on playoffs. Makes the arrogant "we play in World Cups and such" argument somewhat fragile.

Yep, and if it's more lucrative to develop and sell Asian players at this stage then why not? The Aussie players, at present, for the most part simply don't have the skills or physical qualities to be of demand elsewhere. Sure you get the occasional de Silva, Italiano etc, but how many aussies get transfer fees for their clubs each year? No more than a handful across the entire league.

Rather than signing journeymen foreigners like Astrubal etc a club could take a chance on a foreigner in their early 20s who's done well in international tournaments and wants to take a step up playing at a higher league. Could be African or from anywhere well really. Japan and Korea have the appeal and funds to attract already proven foreigners, we're not in the same boat and thus need to be more creative, of which this is one such way. 

Asia is easier to scout, but then anyone with BEIN sports can watch other confederations youth tournaments. 

You want to increase the TV deal, sign a few Vietnamese youth players and watch their fanatics keep tabs on their boys and the league in general!

It's completely true though. We've made the last 4 world cups and won the last Asian Cup. None of the ASEAN teams have even come close to those achievements. Thailand is by far and away the best of these teams, and they couldn't win a single game at the recent quals. So leave them this tournament, where they actually have a chance of winning something, and we should concentrate on serious competitions. It's just a fact that we're several levels above any of these countries in terms of football. It's not really arrogant. It's just the way it is. There's absolutely nothing to be gained for anyone from Australia participating. 

Our world ranking is 36 and the rest of asean r 120 up. Losing 1 match or draw means we going down hill with fifa ranking. plus AFF plays in December so none of the clubs would release the players,.sending U23 squad would also insult the tournament. who wants us to join is completely no brainer.  If u wana face asean dnt worry there r asian cup n world cup qualification so we will get play them frm time to time but nt the aff micky mouse.