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.