Expansion push for football steps up
The Hyundai A-League’s participation in the revamped Asian Champions League (ACL) was confirmed by a meeting in Kuala Lumpur yesterday of the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Pro League Ad Hoc committee.
Football Federation Australia (FFA) CEO Ben Buckley, who is a member of the committee, said that Australia is one of 11 countries awarded automatic entry into the ACL format for 2009 and 2010.
Buckley said the decision was made after a comprehensive analysis of all the professional leagues across the 46 member nations of the AFC.
“I am pleased that we were able to demonstrate to the committee that the Hyundai A-League is one of the leading professional competitions in the AFC, particularly as the competition has only been in place for three seasons.”
Based on the criteria set by the committee, the only significant impediment to the Hyundai A-League having additional teams in the ACL is the size of the competition. Currently, the Hyundai A-League has two places in the ACL.
“One of the clear principles adopted by the committee was that no greater than one-third of the competition could participate in the ACL.
“We support the reforms to the ACL format and the principles adopted by the committee, as an important means of achieving even greater professionalism in the competition,” Buckley said.
The format will be reviewed again in two years time.