Indonesia to cohost Asian Cup in 2007

Indonesia to cohost Asian Cup in 2007

Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press, Beijing

Four nations - Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam - will co-host the Asian Cup, Asia's premier soccer tournament, in 2007, officials said Friday.

All four nations, whose teams are among the weakest in Asia, will gain automatic entry to the 16-nation tournament, leaving 12 places to be contested in qualifying rounds.

Under new Asian Football Confederation rules, the defending champion will not have a guaranteed place in the next tournament and will have to advance through qualifying rounds.

Of the next hosts, only Indonesia and Thailand qualified for this year's tournament, which concludes Saturday in Beijing. Both were knocked out in the group round.

However, AFC secretary general Peter Vellapan said his organization would aggressively work with the soccer associations in those countries to improve their level of play.

"We will give them these two years to really build up a strong team and therefore we will have four more strong Asian teams," Vellapan said.

AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam said the decision to give the tournament to four countries reflected a desire to allow more nations to gain experience holding the tournament.

"By allowing more than one country to have the honor of hosting this tournament, we believe that we are giving the chance to each national association to take part in the organizing of the Asian Cup,"

The AFC would decide later on which cities would hold the opening match and the final.

The tournament is usually held every four years, but its schedule is being readjusted to avoid clashing with the Olympics and European Cup. The tournament will return to its quadrennial schedule after 2007.