AFC chief chases EPL investment.5/14/2009 9:01:18 AM Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam believes that English Premier League clubs looking to boost their revenues in Asia should give something back to the region. Speaking at the Soccerex Forum in London, the head of the Asian Football Confederation A union of states in which each member state retains some independent control over internal and external affairs. Thus, for international purposes, there are separate states, not just one state. and recently re-elected Fifa executive committee member welcomed the growing number of clubs playing close-season matches in countries like Thailand, China and Singapore. However, he also raised concerns that Asia itself did not benefit as much from the tours. Money-making "We have to benefit from our potential. "Europe has maybe exhausted the possibilities at home and have to look to another market and they have come to Asia," he said. "That is the potential continent, not CONCACAF CONCACAF Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Soccer) CONCACAF Confederacion Norte, Centroamericana y del Caribe de Futbol Asociacion (Spanish) (North and Central America Central America, narrow, southernmost region (c.202,200 sq mi/523,698 sq km) of North America, linked to South America at Colombia. It separates the Caribbean from the Pacific. ), Africa or CONMEBOL CONMEBOL Confederacion Sudamericana de Futbol (South America South America, fourth largest continent (1991 est. pop. 299,150,000), c.6,880,000 sq mi (17,819,000 sq km), the southern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. ). "Asia is the future not just for Asia but all football in the future." Asked if he was worried at the ranks of Asian children wearing English club shirts would undermine the potential support for local teams, he said: "The clubs have got a right to promote themselves but the youth of our region has to get something out of supporting these clubs. "What we want, and they are in the process of responding, is a plan to help the countries where there is an interest. "It's not necessarily money - they have to provide technical assistance, coach exchanges, youth teams being brought to training camps in England. "There are lots of ways they can do something." World Cup dreams On a national level he said the prospects of an Asian country Noun 1. Asian country - any one of the nations occupying the Asian continent Asian nation country, land, state - the territory occupied by a nation; "he returned to the land of his birth"; "he visited several European countries" challenging for the World Cup remained a long way away. "We need a good 15 or 20 years," he said. "At every World Cup we are going to produce better quality football but we are not at a stage to win it yet. "There is a lot of development taking place and the talent is there I believe but we've never had a proper structure to develop players or competitions. "We have to develop clubs before we think about anything else." Bin Hammam addressed the Soccerex forum five years ago when he outlined his "Vision Asia" to develop the game in his region and said progress had been made but it remained a long term plan. "It's about developing all aspects of football - professional and grass roots grass roots pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) 1. People or society at a local level rather than at the center of major political activity. Often used with the. 2. The groundwork or source of something. ," he said when addressing the forum, a collection of stakeholders Stakeholders All parties that have an interest, financial or otherwise, in a firm-stockholders, creditors, bondholders, employees, customers, management, the community, and the government. in the business of the game. "We have become much more active in developing football in rural areas but some national associations are limited in how far they can stretch themselves. "We have helped them pass on some of their responsibilities to district and city associations and they have established leagues and competitions - 28 cities in China China is a geographical area encompassing multiple territories, under two states. You may be looking for:
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