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.