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Asian Football in 21st Century
Asian Football should be run like a business, with full-fledged professional players, greater emphasis on youth championships and better cooperation with sponsors, according to the secretary-general of the Asian Football Confederation.
Dato' Peter Velappan was speaking at a seminar dedicated to spotlighting the future prospects of Asian football. The large strides made in Asia's football standards have culminating in FIFA's choice to hold the 2002 World Cup in Asia for the first time in its 70-year history. The 2002 World Cup will be the first to be held outside the European and American continents and co-hosted by two nations, South Korea and Japan. The hosting of such an event in Asia bears testimony to the future awaiting the continent, home to more than half of the world's population.
"The twenty-first century belongs to Asia and we are sitting on goal/gold mine that is waiting to be tapped," said Velappan.
For this purpose the Asian Football Confederation has designed a long-term program for boosting the football potential of 26 Asian countries in order to tap burgeoning amateur players and hurl them into the world of professional football.
"In order to look at football as a business, we need to go professional in order to reach the top of the world," said Velappan.
"Still it is not enough to be just professional because Asian players are weak mentally," he added. Asian players are known to crumble in the face of defeat.
Velappan cited Japan's professional League as the key to its success in the world of football. Other countries, such as China, South Korean and Vietnam, who are following suit, stand to attain riches from teaching football players how to earn a living out of football.
Asia should also boost the number of youth championships in order to catch players while they are young.
For this purpose, the AFC is planning to introduce a championship for youth under 14 years old and another tournament for women under 18.
In addition the Asian football federations need to hire professional managers, media officials and marketing experts who are instrumental in pushing the level of football forward.
"Asia has to go professional in players and managers, otherwise we cannot go forward," said Velappan.
The reliance on foreign coaches with European, Africa and South American experience is essential in order to gear up to more competitive matches against the best football clubs.
"Let's get beaten first," said Velappan. "It will be a good lesson. In the 60's and 70's Japan used to loose 4 to 5 goals a game. But look at it now."
Sponsors, the main financiers of football and sport events in general, are needed to push the level of the game higher.
"We can't develop football as a business without sponsors," said Velappan, noting that. Asia is the biggest center to all sports and sponsors.
Velappan also had a few words to say about the instability in Asia's football world, which culminates in the sacking of coaches in the wake of a defeat or two.
"Many countries ask for magicians, not coaches," said Velappan.
"I don't know how long we will go before we stop this short-sightedness. Already the Asian Cup 2000 has lost two coaches, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon's. This is not good for our credibility. Leaders should aim for long-term planning," he added.
In Velappan's opinion, good coaches should be engaged for at least three years to steer good quality players into playing against European, African and South American teams and not against other Asian players.
"With the wealth we have, we cannot go wrong," argued Velappan.
Velappan also hinted that the AFC could up the number of participating countries in the Asian Cup from 12 to 16 if the competition and executive committees approve the decision.
"Because the level of football has gone up in Asia and more teams are getting better, there is a good case to look at 16 teams," said Velappan.
The AFC secretary general also stressed that the organization will insist that the 2006 World Cup include five Asian teams instead of the 4 and half allocated by FIFA to Asia for the 2002 World Cup.
Velappan had a few words to say about Lebanon's organization of the Asian Cup 2000, which came through despite regional political instability, changes of governments, delay in construction of stadiums and various other snags.
"A miracle has happened in Lebanonˇbecause as you all know the AFC has had a very rough ride to the Asian Cup," said Velappan.
"The political violence surrounding Lebanon was like a volcano waiting to erupt. And only 8 weeks ago I wasn't sure that the Asian Cup was going to take place here," he added.
However, the Lebanese people put their wits together and pulled through to present a successful tournament, which saw the biggest number of media officials, over 1,500 of them converged on Lebanon from 42 countries.
"Next to football, media is the most powerful instrument and the main partner of football," added Velappan, stressing the need for greater coverage of football events.
In a separate presentation, organizers of the World Cup 2002 in Japan and South Korea read out a detailed summary of preparation for the event, which is mobilizing a huge workforce and creating twenty new stadiums in twenty different cities.
Due to the policy of rapprochement practiced by North and South Korea's heads of states, the two national teams of the wartime enemies could unify. Some matches hosted by South Korean could also be awarded to its northern neighbor. So far neither Japan nor FIFA have objected to this proposal, which could add political significance to the 30-day World Cup tournament in 2002.
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