Blatter backs bid to make Asian soccer more professional
Blatter backs bid to make Asian soccer more professional
Agence France-Presse, Tokyo
FIFA chief Sepp Blatter has joined Asian Football
Confederation (AFC) president Mohammed Bin Hammam in urging a
more professional approach to help soccer grow in the region.
Blatter, an old ally of bin Hammam who has keenly supported
his Vision Asia philosophy to develop the game, said clubs needed
to understand that they must be run as commercial entities.
And he called on national associations to show better
leadership.
"The problem of professionalism in leadership at the level of
national associations and the clubs, it is a general problem, and
not just in Asia," he told AFP.
"If you look at the big European associations, the best
leadership is in the clubs because they are professionals and
they are organized.
"But you don't have the professional governance in the
national associations or even in the leagues. The clubs are
commercial entities and they have to be organized or they will
not work."
He said Asian clubs needed to adopt a similar commercial and
professional approach if they wanted to succeed.
While some countries in the Gulf, and Japan and South Korea,
have built reputable and profitable domestic leagues, most
nations in Asia are still struggling.
"You have it in the Arabic countries, not only in Saudi Arabia
but other Gulf countries, and the J-League and the Korean league
which is good," he said.
"But if you compare Asian football to the good leagues in
Europe then you have to wait. It is a question of investment and
you have to try and bring clubs towards this."
He commended the AFC's Vision Asia -- a program to raise the
standards of soccer -- but said the scourge of corruption must
also be tackled, particularly in China, and leagues must be wary
of trying to grow too quickly.
"Football is a game and in a game there is gambling and
gambling is naturally cheating but this is a matter for national
associations," he said.
"They have to control that but it is difficult the bigger an
association is. Can you imagine it in China with 1.3 billion
people.
"In China the development of football has come too fast in
consideration of the culture of the Chinese. When you see the
economic development and the political development, it came in
steps.
"Football came in and tried to change everything in one day."
The AFC has warned that corrupt referees, rampant match fixing
and gambling in the Chinese Super League could kill the game.
Blatter insisted the problem was being tackled with FIFA
taking a leading role after setting up a new body, known as "For
the Good of the Game Task Force".
As well as addressing corruption globally, the task force will
deal with issues such as behavior of players and agents and the
continued interference by some governments into the running of
soccer in their countries.