Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Sydney: Asian Football Confederation President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has congratulated the four teams who are now just one game away from the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 final.
Speaking to the media, Shaikh Salman, who also revealed his thoughts on several other topics relating to both the Asian Cup and Asian football in general, praised host nation Australia, Iraq, the UAE and Korea Republic for reaching the competition’s semi-finals which will be played on Monday and Tuesday in Sydney and Newcastle respectively.
“We congratulate the four teams who have qualified for the semi-finals,” the AFC President declared, adding that the presence of both the UAE and Iraq in the final four should not necessarily be regarded as a shock.
“Some people consider the results of Friday’s matches a surprise, but nothing is guaranteed in football. The UAE are a very organised team, and the United Arab Emirates Football Association has put a lot of time and effort into supporting the side.
“Iraq played a very interesting match against Iran, and that match will be remembered for being a thrilling game for years to come.”
With over 1600 accredited media attending the Asian Cup’s latest edition Down Under, coverage of the event has been extremely positive and on a global level, something the AFC President was keen to achieve ahead of the January 9 kick-off.
“I always concentrate on the positives and avoid discussing the negative issues with the media. Because we wanted to get the best coverage for the finals, the AFC invited some media for this tournament, especially from the countries who couldn’t send representatives to cover the Asian Cup.
“There are rights and commercial agreements with the broadcasting channels, but at the same time we do all that we can to attract the best coverage for the Asian Cup,” Shaikh Salman added.
From its relatively humble beginnings in 1956 when four teams played for the right to be crowned continental champions at the AFC Asian Cup’s inaugural tournament, the AFC’s premier competition has grown substantially with 16 teams starting the 2015 finals in Australia.
That number is scheduled to increase to 24 in 2019, a move that the AFC President and the confederation’s Member Associations have wholeheartedly endorsed, although Shaikh Salman did stop short, for the time being at least, of backing moves to hold the AFC Asian Cup every two years.
“We have studied this decision for a while, and we feel sure that it is a positive thing, especially if we consider the merging of the AFC Asian Cup and FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The increase takes into account the needs of the more established Asian teams and also provides further opportunity for the national teams from developing countries to play more international competitive matches.
“We think that it would be difficult to hold the AFC Asian Cup every two years – especially after raising the number of teams in the finals to 24. However, if we feel in the future that there is a need for such a thing, we will study it.”
Shaikh Salman was also quick to counteract the criticism that has emerged in some media circles regarding certain refereeing decisions and the distances encountered by those having to travel around Australia during the AFC Asian Cup, saying: “I am very happy with the performances of the referees who have officiated at the Asian Cup,” the AFC President explained.
“I must also mention that all the Asian Cup officials were chosen from the confederation’s elite panel.
“We are also studying whether or not to use goal line technology at the next Asian Cup in 2019, although, in my opinion, it would be difficult to use it during clubs competitions and in local leagues as it is highly complex and costly.
“In addition, I don’t agree with those talking about travel issues, because the distances are short between the host cities in Australia. I have been at many international competitions where we had to travel for long distances, with time difference between the cities, while this is not the case in this Asian Cup.”
The AFC President added that the confederation’s fight to maintain integrity and combat the threat of match fixing was ongoing at the Asian Cup and will remain so after the latest champions of Asia have been identified.
“We are monitoring all AFC matches in cooperation with Sportradar, and we will have more agreements with more organisations to monitor the matches. I must also highlight that our fight against match fixing requires more support from governments, and changes in law, so that we can pursue legal action against those who are behind match fixing.”
On the issues facing football in both Iraq and Palestine, Shaikh Salman commented: “We share the suffering with our brothers in Iraq, we are supporting them as they attempt to help local football gain more popularity and continue their domestic league. At the same time, we have to be realistic in terms of the conditions and guarantees FIFA requires for hosting international matches there. The FIFA Executive Committee discussed this issue in their last meeting, and decided to form a taskforce which will visit Iraq to study the situation and submit a report which is going to be discussed in the next meeting.
“We also support the right of Palestinians to play football without any restrictions, to travel between cities in Palestine and to travel outside Palestine. FIFA was clear in its support of this right for Palestinians.
“Palestine’s participation in this Asian Cup was its first, and they need support from the AFC and other Member Associations to continue their development. We hope the Palestine national team can develop further in the future and achieve even better results”
In response to current consensus that the AFC Asian Cup and the AFC Champions League are now the main source of income for the AFC, Shaikh Salman responded by explaining that such a phenomenon was not unusual.
“This is something normal. The World Cup is the main financial source for FIFA, and in all confederations there are certain competitions that attract all the financial income.
“At the same time, we are working on developing competitions so that they are more attractive for sponsors, and more capable of attracting income. The next competition that we are focusing on is the AFC U-23 Championship 2016 in Qatar, as this competition is important vis a vis qualification for the Olympics.”
Shaikh Salman, a FIFA Executive Committee member, concluded the roundtable by clarifying the latest situation regarding the dates for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
“FIFA has studied all the aspects for the dates of the 2022 World Cup, and suggested several dates when the finals could be played,” he said.
“Personally, I think it is difficult to play the World Cup at the beginning of 2022 because it will be too close to the end of qualifiers. I therefore think the best dates will be during November and December 2022.”