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<strong>Qatar</strong> Sport talks to MohaMMed Bin haMMaM, President of the asian footBall Confederation Mohammed Bin Hammam is President of the increasingly powerful Asian Football Confederation and one of the most influential administrators in world sport. He is one of a number of <strong>Qatar</strong>is to hold key positions with world governing bodies. He oversees the development of football across a vast region which straddles not only time zones but myriad languages and cultures. Yet in a region, which has been at the forefront of global economic development for so long, professional football has faced many challenges, largely of organisation, management and commercialisation. Add to this the impact on development of the massive popularity of historic clubs from Spain, Italy and England which can be seen continuously on television and which have targeted Asia as a key area for commercial exploitation, and you begin to have a picture of the challenge faced by Bin Hammam and his team. In many respects the joint-hosting of the 2002 FIFA World Cup by Korea and Japan, the traditional powerhouses of football in Asia, may come to be seen as a turning point. Both teams exceeded expectations in the tournament with Korea reaching the semi-final, something which would have been unimaginable just a decade earlier. The success of the tournament demonstrated to the wider world that football has a home in Asia and those Asian players and teams are a force to be reckoned with. Since then, a number of ‘star’ players from Japan and Korea have joined significant European clubs, including the current European and World Club Champions Manchester United. Mohammed Bin Hammam is, in many respects, the very model of a modern sports administrator. He helped to lay the foundation for the growth of football in <strong>Qatar</strong> by emphasising the need to develop the game at different age levels. This led to <strong>Qatar</strong>’s younger teams consistently claiming honours in Asian football and also qualifying for FIFA’s under-17 and under-20 tournaments. He was President of Al Rayyan Sports Club (seven-time winners of the <strong>Qatar</strong> Premier League during his Presidency) and President of the <strong>Qatar</strong> Football Association between 1992 and 1996. He is extremely active within and on behalf of FIFA as a member of its Executive <strong>Committee</strong>, Chairman of the FIFA GOAL Project and a member of the Finance <strong>Committee</strong> Bureau. <strong>Qatar</strong> Sport caught up with Mohammed Bin Hammam and asked him for his views on the key issues facing football in his territory. How do you assess the health of football in Asia today at international, club and grassroots level? In terms of international football, Asia is still lagging behind the other confederations as far as the standard is concerned, especially behind the big nations in Europe and South America. But we are happy with the progress and it will not be long before the gap is reduced. At club level we have to admit that our focus so far has been on amateur football. But from this year we have created a strong base for professional football through our revamped AFC Champions League with stringent criteria for the participants. So some of our Member Associations and their clubs will have a commercial base. Besides, we have a wide base of amateur clubs. When it comes to amateur football and infrastructure, we are No 1 among the other confederations. The AFC has developed an intensive grassroots programme for Asian players, clubs, coaches, referees, et al and our programmes are on par with the best in the world. All our Member Associations are making efforts to meet the criteria set by the AFC in grassroots football and development. The Gulf States have become particularly active in recent years. How do you assess the development programmes in nations such as your home country of <strong>Qatar</strong> where great efforts are being made to develop a domestic league by importing top overseas talent? The development of football in the Gulf states started around 40 years back with the creation of the Gulf Cup, which was the first national teams competition in that region. From that point, the governments started building the infrastructure and now stadiums of an international standard are a common sight in the Gulf. Besides, a lot of experienced coaches from Europe and Brazil have been involved with Gulf teams, and, of course, the professional players. The standard of football and infrastructure in the Gulf is one of the highest in Asia. I hope the introduction of professionalism will boost administration. How has the acceptance of Australia as a member of the AFC impacted on the Confederation? Australia’s inclusion has raised the level playing field perceptibly and reshaped the image of AFC tournaments. They have had a major impact on all our major age group tournaments and this has spurred the traditional Asian powers into improving. Australia has joined Japan, the Korea Republic, and Saudi Arabia as the elite countries in Asia. It has opened a market for us to recruit professional players, coaches and referees. The professionalism in Australia is very advanced. I’m very happy with the impact the big interview Q5.09 <strong>Qatar</strong>Sport 35