AFC launches new league with hopes of 5th World Cup slot

Rohan Sullivan, Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Buoyed by the success of Asia's first hosting of the World Cup, top regional soccer officials are meeting here this week with high hopes of securing five direct entry berths in the 2006 tournament.

And on the eve of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) annual congress, the organization was to launch a new regional competition on Tuesday that it hoped would challenge the popularity within Asia of European soccer.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter, world soccer's top administrator, was due to hold talks with top officials on Wednesday after the congress and AFC executive committee meetings.

Blatter was expected to praise Asian officials for their staging of the 2002 World Cup, hosted jointly by Japan and South Korea and widely regarded as one of the best-organized and most trouble-free.

Asian officials were hoping to turn the momentum generated by the organizational success -- and surprise giant-killing performances by Japan and Korea on the pitch -- into a fifth direct entry into the next World Cup in Germany in 2006.

South Korea and Japan qualified as co-hosts this year, while Saudi Arabia and China advanced via regional qualifying. China made its finals debut after four decades of trying.

South Korea, which had failed to win a match in five previous trips to the World Cup, reached the semifinals, defeating Poland, Portugal, Italy and Spain on the way. Japan defeated Russia and Tunisia and tied with Belgium before being stopped by Turkey.

While Asian teams had made the World Cup finals before, only one - North Korea in 1966 - had ever progressed further than the first round.

Asian officials argued that the region should have five guaranteed slots at soccer's quadrennial showpiece because of its large population and improving performances against more established strongholds in Europe and South America.

"Asia deserves five teams," AFC secretary-general Dato' Peter Velappan told the Associated Press following the Korea-Japan World Cup. "We will fight for five teams in 2006."

The AFC Champions League, to be officially launched at a function in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday as the first game kicked off in Jordan, will replace three existing Asian tournaments.

Based on the concept of the European Championship League, the new tournament will be among the richest in Asia.

Eight teams will progress from qualifying rounds among four groups - two in east Asia and two in the Middle East, which is included in the AFC as west Asia. The top teams will be going into a finals series also featuring eight seeded teams early next year.

"The AFC Champions League will create a new image for football in Asia and heralds the dawn of a new era for the sport in the region," Velappan said.

Blatter said the competition, like the World Cup, showed that soccer standards in Asia were rapidly improving and would "greatly enhance football clubs in Asia."