AFC Asian Cup 2015
Australia have officially been handed the hosting rights to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup
Football Federation Australia Chairman Frank Lowy, AC, received the AFC flag from AFC President Mohamed Bin Hamman at Khalifa Stadium in a symbolic gesture to show that Asia-s largest sporting event was next heading to Australia.
Football Federation Australia Chairman Frank Lowy, AC, promised Australia would put on a great AFC Asian Cup for the region-s fans, teams and sponsors.
Mr Lowy said the AFC Asian Cup was the biggest sporting event in Asia and was a wonderful opportunity to showcase Australia to Asia and the rest of the world.
“Australia has a long history of hosting fantastic major international sporting events and the benefits for Australia to host an event of this kind will cement Australia-s place in the Asian economic community,” Mr Lowy said.
“This is a terrific boost to football in Australia at all levels and it comes as our Qantas Socceroos, the highest ranked team in Asia, were finalists in the prestigious AFC Asian Cup 2011 here in Qatar tonight.
“As we have seen with this wonderful tournament in Qatar that it is growing all the time as a regional and international event.
“We look forward to working with the AFC over coming years to make sure the AFC Asian Cup 2015 is the biggest and best ever.”
The tournament will be held in January, 2015 and will be played in stadiums selected from Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane or the Gold Coast.
It is estimated the 32 matches will attract about 500,000 spectators with the Qantas Socceroos expected to play at least one group game in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
FFA has proposed Melbourne to host the opening match and Sydney to host the final.
It is expected to bring in up to 45,000 visitors, create up to 1,000 jobs and boost GDP by $23 million.
The broadcast figures for AFC Asian Cup 2011 are expected to be released soon.
FACTS: • Some 655 million viewers tuned in to the AFC Asian Cup 2007 (held in Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia) with 748 million viewing the 2004 edition (held in China) • There was a 434 per cent growth in broadcast coverage hours between 2004 (902 hours) and 2007 (3916 hours) • Domestically, 2.5 million viewers tuned into Fox Sports over the 160 hours of the AFC Asian Cup 2007 telecast • The Australia v Japan quarter-final broke Pay Television records with an average audience of 419,000 throughout the match • FFA has undertaken extensive government liaison coordinated through the Football World Cup Bid Government Taskforce (established for both the 2022 FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup 2015 Bids) • 32 matches (24 group stage / 8 knockout) will be played across four (4) States and Territories (QLD, NSW, VIC, ACT) during the 23 day long tournament, currently scheduled for January 2015 • A number of ancillary events will also be conducted in Australia including the Preliminary Draw, Final Draw, Opening and Closing Ceremonies and Team Workshops • The eight (8) Stadiums proposed in the Bid Book include Suncorp Stadium, Skilled Park, ANZ Stadium, Sydney Football Stadium, Parramatta Stadium, Canberra Stadium, Etihad Stadium and AAMI Park • AFC requires a minimum of four (4) and a maximum of five (5) Stadiums and in conjunction with FFA will undertake a Stadium selection process following the announcement of the Host Country • More than 27 per cent of Australia-s overseas-born population is from Asia and 24 per cent of Australia-s longstanding (arrived before 2002) migrants are Asian-born. • Sixteen teams from the 46 member associations of the Asian Football Confederation will participate.