Asian Cup bid key to World Cups: FFA

(AAP) - Football Federation Australia could be uncontested in its bid to host the 2015 Asian Cup and believes hosting the tournament would greatly boost the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids.

As several key appointments for the bid teams were announced on Wednesday, the FFA
was upbeat about Australia's chances of hosting the 2015 Asian Cup, believing it
already has the infrastructure to host the tournament.
While Australia faces competition from Asian neighbours Japan, South Korea,
Indonesia and Qatar for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, no other country has yet
expressed interest in hosting the Asian Cup in 2015.
"At this stage we're the only country that has put our name forward for the 2015
Asian Cup and expressions of interest or intentions to bid closed off some time
ago," FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said on Wednesday.
"There's nothing that we've heard or seen that would suggest any other country is
planning to host the Asian Cup.
"I can't speak for other countries and their ambitions but at this point in time
we're the only country putting our name forward."
Buckley said winning rights to the tournament, which is contested by the top 16
nations in the Asian Football Confederation, would be a huge achievement for
Australia.
"We shouldn't underestimate the size and scale of the Asian Cup," Buckley said.
"We're talking about teams from China, Korea, Japan, the Middle East, from India
possibly if they were to qualify.
"You're talking about a huge region with two thirds of the world's population so
behind the World Cup, the Asian Cup is probably up there in the top four or five
sporting events and the top few football events in the world in terms of audiences
and TV audiences and interest levels in an event."
Buckley did not believe hosting the competition could hurt Australia's chances of
winning a World Cup or that FIFA would be reluctant to award it two major
tournaments within a short space of time.
"In fact, we think it will help in getting investment made in the areas that we need
if its stadia development or other city infrastructure required (for the World Cup
bid)," Buckley said.
"I think it's a good test case for Australia if we were to be hosting a World Cup.
"To hold an international tournament of that magnitude and that scale would be a
good test of Australia's readiness for a World Cup."
Buckley said Australia was equipped to host the event immediately.
"We think we're probably very well placed to host the Asian Cup without significant
and additional infrastructure and investment," Buckley said.
Buckley said the tournament could be held either in January, as Qatar is doing for
the 2011 tournament, or in June/July.
FFA announced on Wednesday current Head of A-League Operations Rob Abernethy would
head up the team for the 2015 Asian Cup bid.
It was also announced Head of Major Events Stuart Taggart and Head of Corporate and
Public Affairs Bonita Mersiades would move fulltime into the Asian and World Cup
bids team.
St Kilda chief executive Archie Fraser became the second senior AFL executive behind
Buckley to switch to soccer, taking a new role as head of the A-League.