Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Monchengladbach, Liverpool FC, NEC Nijmegen, AZ Alkmaar and AS Monaco have all sent scouts to the tournament.

The success of Paul Okon’s boys who won through to the semi-finals with a convincing 3-0 victory over Jordon will have caught the attention of many on the sidelines.

Increasingly AFC tournaments provide an exciting shop window for some of Australia’s most gifted young players.

Barcelona-based FIFA agent Jean Gerard who represents players and coaches in Europe and West Asia has been a regular visitor to the continent over the years and is impressed by the rising standard of football.

“The European clubs' interest in the Asian football market is ever increasing,” the Frenchman told www.the-afc.com. “Previously, the big clubs were only eying on the marketing potential but now it has to do with qualities first.

"There are emerging Asian countries that have the potential to play in the FIFA World Cup and do exceptionally well.

"Asian football was confined to Japan and Korea (Republic) before but now you have countries like Iran, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Australia and many others who are making huge strides in grassroots football.

"On the top of this, the organisation of the AFC is highly professional with top class referees and officials. The interest of the top European clubs for this competition shows Asia has a huge future in global football."

EPL giants Liverpool FC are dipping their toes in the Asian market for the first time, using the U20 World Cup qualifier as an opportunity to cast their eye over emerging talent.

"Our scouting department wants to cover as much as the world we can as this is the best way to lead the club forward,” Liverpool club scout Michael Edwards said.

“We are here for the first time but in future we would like to attend as many AFC events in search for talented Asian players.

“We are the only English club coming here but there are many German, French, Dutch clubs who already know the potential of Asian football. So far, I am impressed by the Asian standard in terms of quality on the pitch as well as organisation of the event.”

Borussia Dortmund rep Heiner Schuhmann said: "This tournament reveals the nature and future of Asian football. We can't see these players very often apart from these type of tournaments.

"Scouting in Asia or parts of the world is the philosophy of our club as coach Jurgen Klopp is very interested in young players, giving them a break and moulding them into a top world class footballer.”

Monaco scout Hedna Mustapha said the AFC events provided more opportunity for club scouts than similar tournaments in Europe.

"You see top players from the countries like Spain, Germany, France and Italy in the European competitions but these players are already playing for the top clubs of their respective countries or other European countries, but in Asia all the players are in the offing so the scouts have an open chance to pick the best," he said.

"Having these opportunities, I am still surprised to see only a handful of European clubs attending this tournament.”