NEWS - Qatar Olympic Committee

Qatar 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 Qataris 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 Qatar
by emphasising the need to develop the game at different
age levels. This led to Qatar’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 Qatar Premier League during his Presidency)
and President of the Qatar Football Association between
1992 and 1996.
He is extremely active within and on behalf of FIFA
as a member of its Executive Committee, Chairman of
the FIFA GOAL Project and a member of the Finance
Committee Bureau.
Qatar 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
Qatar 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
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