'Asian and African nations are emerging soccer powers'

Dubai: Asian and African nations are the emerging powers in world football, according to Hamburg's Dutch international defender Joris Mathijsen.

The World Cup star joined the Bundesliga outfit from Holland's AZ Alkmaar in the summer and has been impressed with Asian players he has played with and against in the two leagues.

Mathijsen said: "I hear more and more in Europe about Asian football.

A few years ago you heard nothing but they have made good progress and you can see that in World Cups where they do better every time, the same as African football.

"The difference is not so much any more and many players from African and Asia play in Europe with more Asians are going to Europe and that's good for the level of football.

"You look at someone like Mehdi Mahdavikia, who has played for so long in the Bundesliga, that he demands respect from us all. He's a very good right-winger."

Despite Hamburg languishing in 17th place in the German league Mathijsen, 26, is confident the team will rise up the table now they have injured players returning to action. He added: "We are too good to go down.

"We have been so unlucky in the first part of the season, everything has been against us. Normally when we are all fit we have a very good top-five team."