The English Premier League plans to help develop clubs in Asia – including Australia’s Asian Champions League representatives – through “twinning” partnerships, AFC president Mohammed bin Hammam said on Friday.
The twinning scheme is part of an agreement on cooperation between the world’s leading football league and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), bin Hammam told reporters.
It could coincide with EPL matches being played in Asian cities.
“There will be a platform for our administrators and officials as well as coaches to join the Premier League for gaining experiences they have and knowledge they have,” bin Hammam said.
“They are caring about our success and we are also caring about their existence in Asia.
“At the end of the day, we found there is a lot of mutual interest between us.”
He made the remarks as he formally announced a new format for the AFC Champions League from 2009 on the sidelines of the Club World Cup.
The AFC Champions League will be expanded from 28 to 32 teams next year.
Thirty teams will come from 11 qualified countries with two to come from qualifying play-offs.
“I think the time has come to professionalise our football,” bin Hammam said.
The partnership accord between the AFC and EPL followed a recent bust-up over the English league’s plan to play one “39th” round abroad, possibly in Asia.
Bin Hammam had initially denounced the idea as he feared it would further hamper the development of Asia’s own leagues and national sides.
But he changed his mind and welcomed it after he was convinced that the Premier League intends to leave a positive “legacy” in Asia rather than exploit the lucrative region.
Bin Hammam said that Asia had always been concerned about whether foreign clubs would “come and collect the money and go” or if they would leave some legacy.
“Now we know there will be benefits for Asian football,” he said. “It’s not like an invasion.”
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December 13th 2008 @ 2:14pm
Midfielder said | December 13th 2008 @ 2:14pm | Report comment
Oikee
If I may SJ … Oikee what SJ was trying to say is the A-League teams could pick up ideas on how to run their clubs. I have posted a number of times that successful management is the real key to any codes success.
Furthermore for football in Australia to solve its problems in Australia ( which there are many) it must use football methods not ARL or AFL methods. To date many clubs have adopted NRL / AFL management models these can be improved but more importantly the development of skill in the junior academies is football future. The overseas clubs can so how to do this and as I have said before and most laugh but all football has to do is slowly improve its own skills and offer to improve the skills of the existing player and coaching base.
December 13th 2008 @ 4:05pm
Koala Bear said | December 13th 2008 @ 4:05pm | Report comment
Yes as I asked on another thread “What will ever happen next ..?” It didn’t take long for some radical idea of EPL matches to play a 39th round in Asia .. To say we will have EPL matches as curtain raisers to HAL fixtures is amusing .?. I’m a fan of both leagues. How this is going to go down with the English home team’s fan base seems uncertain to me; it is starting to smell like a Harlem Globe Trotter’s touring circus.. I shall however, keep an open mind with this concept as seeing Chelski v Man Ure play a curtain raiser to a Syniski v Melb Vic Muppets fixture could be amusing…
Okiee, you may have my support on this one when something affirmative is put on the table of how this will all pan out, but I think it’s heading towards an over baked promotional suicidal concept of the AFC to have Europe club games come in and play 39th round fixtures .. There are other ways to pick the brains of our superior confederations without undermining the good work of the ACL to form a sort of second tier UEFA competition at the expense of Asia..
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KB
December 13th 2008 @ 4:41pm
Slippery Jim said | December 13th 2008 @ 4:41pm | Report comment
Wow – Oikee said all that? Good points Oik!
December 13th 2008 @ 5:34pm
oikee said | December 13th 2008 @ 5:34pm | Report comment
Look i know they tell you they mean well, but boil it down to the barest bones, take out all there so-called good they think that they are going to do, and what are we left with, more people watching premier league if we want top class action. Something i dont do is encourage any overseas games, when i watch soccer i watch the a-league games. Now the running of our league, crap, i could run the bloody thing, K.B could run it, anyone could run it, no these twits want it run at what? what level are we looking for, i have said to give the comp time, ?why, because we are not that bloody good yet and we are still growing support. These twits all they can see is dollar signs in Asia, they dont give 2hoots of squid shit for the a-league. Suck it up and pay the price if you dont believe me, money hungruy sucking Squids.
December 13th 2008 @ 5:50pm
Koala Bear said | December 13th 2008 @ 5:50pm | Report comment
Slippery Jim,
the big bang theory is real… don’t laugh. It’s un Australian, do you remember Glasgow Rangers buying Northern Spirit.?. What happen to the club after they re-branded the Spirit, changed the strip to look like a reserve GR FC that put the supporters offside; I think they also changed the name..? No I don’t like it; it’s one way traffic the wrong way. Of course we need top professionals with experience with good ideas and good coaching. But we need our own space and planing without interference as well..
In the end if the overseas clubs don’t get their way, they pull the plug as Rangers did with the Northern Spirit, with little concern or remorse with what they leave behind.. Better to be master of your own domain than end up as a puppet on a string to an overseas club.. I need to see a successful example before I am convinced that it’s a good idea ..
Do you know of one.. ? Please don’t say CCM as they have just entered into a deal with Sheffield United; let’s wait a season or two to see the real fruits of the exercise.. There are plenty failed ones in Australia starting in Perth to the East Coast.. I don’t mind foreign entrepreneurs with genuine love for the club (Roman Abramovich) but clubs owning clubs I’m suspicious of …
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KB
December 13th 2008 @ 5:53pm
dasilva said | December 13th 2008 @ 5:53pm | Report comment
well I support the feeder and parents initiative. It seems to me its a case of mutual exploitation and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to get people to actually follow the clubs.
Midfielder how many Sheffield United fans are generated due to their partnership with Central Coast? I seriously doubt that many. Same with Manchester City and Perth. As long as we don’t see Sheffield United and Manchester City flags during the A-league match I’m happy with them “helping out” the A-league.
However the 39th match EPL in Australia
No way. It will completely undermine A-league and its basically a surrender to the eurosnobs and the euro aristocrats/football imperialist. Let’s just say if we want to let EPL play a match in Australia, what we get in return must be so high it might be considered to be cost prohibitive for the EPL for it to be a good thing for Australian football.
December 13th 2008 @ 6:13pm
Koala Bear said | December 13th 2008 @ 6:13pm | Report comment
Okiee,
Maybe they will listen to me in 2018 when it will count.. 
If I had been running the show at FFA the Spanish referee would have been gelded.. The replay against Italy would have been on Australian soil. The MCG would have been converted to a rectangle stadium. Totti forced to marry Amanda Vanstone and the WC final to be transferred to the best rectangular Stadium in the country at Suncorp with new appointed Asian Referees Gunn Hoo and his linesmen first and second cousins would have been instructed to award a last minute penalty for Australia to win the 2006 FIFA World Cup for its very first time in its history.. Alas my proposals were overlook in favour of the Rugby ex CEO John O’Neill who did not understand the workings of a real Footballer’s brain…
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KB
December 13th 2008 @ 8:27pm
oikee said | December 13th 2008 @ 8:27pm | Report comment
See K.B
Simple as you just explained? Moving on to the game tonite, CCM Sydney, now why on this planet is football still living in the dark ages, struth we have video cameras that we could utilise for off-side. That was clearly a on-side position by aloisi after we seen the replay, why cant we just use modern tecknology. Whos running this show, apemen.
December 13th 2008 @ 8:50pm
Pippinu said | December 13th 2008 @ 8:50pm | Report comment
I agree 100% with Kossie here. Forget about the video, let’s just have linesmen who know the rules, who watch the game with both eyes open – and who understand that you always favour the attacking team!!!
December 13th 2008 @ 9:39pm
Slippery Jim said | December 13th 2008 @ 9:39pm | Report comment
Perhaps an FFA conspiracy against Sydney Pippu??!?!