Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
The countdown is well and truly on as November 30 and the Asian Football Confederation’s eagerly anticipated 60th Anniversary celebrations and 2014 Annual Awards night in Manila draws ever closer.
With headline acts Lea Salonga and Gary Valenciano sure to add a touch of glamour to the proceedings, not to mention the silky skills of co-hosts Jason Dasey and Margaret Wilson, the gala event is sure to shine, adding further gloss to what already promises to be a momentous occasion in the Philippine capital.
Sunday’s festivities will of course make headlines around the planet as, among a whole host of other awards, Asia’s finest male and female footballers are announced to an expectant world.
But of course, the occasion is not only about rewarding those in the present for their services rendered, it is about looking back at 60 years of the AFC and recognising the stellar rise of both the confederation and Asian football.
But why Manila? Apart from the obvious such as the city’s historical and cultural excellence, it happens to be where the AFC began on May 8, 1954.
On that historical day, representatives from Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea Republic, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), Singapore, and Vietnam gathered in Manila for what would be the meeting that founded the AFC.
The rest, as they say, is history.