In the midst of all the news emerging from the FFA’s annual general meeting, the reiteration from Frank Lowy of Australia’s determination to stage the 2018 bid comes at a time when European powers are lining up to bring the World Cup back to the sports heartland after what will be a twelve year absence.

If Australia wants the 2018 World Cup, it will take some serious political manoeuvrings to make it happen.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter was quoted in May as saying Australia should focus its efforts on 2022 instead. With the next two World Cups in the Southern Hemisphere (South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014), Blatter hinted that the World Cup might have to return to the Northern Hemisphere in 2018.

Never before has Europe been overlooked for two World Cups in a row, let alone three.

UEFA is determined to stage the 2018 World Cup and there is no lack of options emerging.

England is the favourite, having missed out on the 2006 bid.

With the Olympics in 2012 and world-class stadiums littered around the country, it is a genuine contender to stage the tournament, unless the Olympics bankrupt the country!

English football has certainly come a long way from the dark old days of hooliganism and Hillsborough. The World Cup would be the confirmation of the cleansing in the English game.

Spain has also thrown its hat in the ring, with a joint bid with neighbours Portugal.

Spain last held the World Cup in 1982. The only obvious impediment is the amount of racism that still blights the Spanish game.

With regard to stadiums, Spain and England could stage a World Cup next week.

Other European options are Belgium and the Netherlands and also Russia.

Even if Europe doesn’t work out, Blatter could avoid a third straight Southern Hemisphere World Cup with the dark horse of the 2018 bid, the United States.

The FFA certainly has a fight on its hands.

Call me pessimistic but there is an immense amount of work to do for the FFA with stadiums and questions regarding how the other codes will accommodate the tournament into their own calendar.

We have the potential to stage the World Cup one day and it would be a great World Cup, a momentous occasion that would rank up there with the Sydney Olympics, if not higher given how symbolic it would be of football’s journey in this country.

But with Europe appearing to be the favoured option for 2018, perhaps the FFA should switch its focus to 2022.

It seems difficult to imagine Europe going without a World Cup for sixteen years and you wonder how the FFA, even with the support of the AFC, could overcome the political power of UEFA, its European interests and the wishes of President Blatter.

Those extra years will give the FFA time to rally governments across the states for the stadiums we need and other confederations worldwide for the political pull to determine just how the World Cup would be accommodated and avoid a direct confrontation with Europe.

Better to be one of the favourites for 2022 than just one of the contenders for 2018.

Nichols, 19, ensured the Queensland Roar at least salvaged a point by protecting a 1-1 scoreline away to Sydney FC on Friday night by clearing the ball off the line after a late Blues corner.

The speedy attacking midfielder, who last month scored the goal that qualified the Young Socceroos for next year’s Junior World Cup, had just come off the bench.

Assistant coach Rado Vidosic had told Nichols he also had the responsibility of defending at the near post off corners but the young impact weapon forgot in the heat of the battle.

Fortunately stopper Liam Reddy called him back in the nick of time, with his clearance ensuring the Roar stayed in the top four heading into Saturday night’s clash at Central Coast.

“I was lucky to be there in the right spot,” Nichols said on Monday.

“I forgot to be at the post and the goalkeeper called me back at the last minute so it was a bit of luck.

“If (Reddy) didn’t notice I would have got in a bit of trouble.”

The desperate header over the bar came after he scored in his first senior game of the season the previous week, completing a breakthrough 4-1 win over Perth to end the club’s home-ground hoodoo with a late goal off the bench.

Roar coach Frank Farina has banked on the pace of Nichols and fellow young guns Michael Zullo and Tahj Minniecon out near each sideline to turn around the club’s attacking fortunes.

He reverted to a 4-3-3 structure once his Australian U20s were available, following World Cup qualification duties, after an insipid 1-0 loss to Melbourne early last month.

“We’re the only team in the league that has that,” Nichols said. “You can see the opposition find it difficult to defend against. We like to use it.”

Queensland expect to have attacking linchpin Charlie Miller available for Saturday night’s match in Gosford despite a groin strain.

Former Socceroo Danny Tiatto looms as the likely replacement in the starting side with Nichols to continue cooling his heels as a second-half impact weapon.

The Mariners have the Roar in their sights as Queensland are the only club they have never beaten at Bluetongue Stadium.

But the competition’s `Road Warriors’ are currently on a seven-match undefeated away streak and the third-placed Roar’s next goal will be the club’s 100th in the competition.

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The A–League’s expansion has thrown up a mighty dilemma for the FFA. With two extra teams, six extra rounds and more teams lining up in the not too distant future, the FFA has two options – the dreaded intrusion into winter or midweek games.

Firstly, let’s look at the proposal to start the season earlier in July.

The A–League teams’ opposition to the earlier start is a genuine concern.

Fighting for attention against the ingrained sporting codes is difficult if not near impossible.

This current A–League season started in mid August – the time when the AFL and NRL seasons intensified as the finals fast approached. No wonder it failed to make an impact.

A July start may prove better than an August start, at least there is a bigger buffer between the A–League start and the other codes finals series, but then there is still the issue of playing through September as the forgotten code.

Also of the current A–League teams, only two teams, Adelaide and Perth, don’t have to share their grounds with other professional outfits. If you thought the mess caused by Mr. Rieu at the Telstra Dome was bad just wait until grounds are asked to cope with double the punishment.

The second option, midweek games, has more potential but it may take time to grow on fans.

While midweek games are a common occurrence in Europe, Australia’s sporting culture is built around the weekend.

While Adelaide and Melbourne showed it is possible to fill stadiums midweek during their ACL campaigns, A–League games will be a tougher sell.

Too many midweek games, especially spread too thinly throughout the season wouldn’t work, especially for the clubs committed in the Asian Champions League. After November, with the ACL over, there are few disruptions.

But the potential is there for A–League midweek fixtures, especially in the warm summer nights around December and January, the perfect time of the year to head out. It’s no surprise events such as one-day cricket; the Big Day Out etc are so successful in that time of the year.

Promotion will be the key to midweek games, especially given the continued concern over crowd figures.

But the more games in succession during a time when the competition will be limited to cricket and tennis, the more media attention and awareness for the game. If the television media cover nothing else, at least they show scores and goals.

The FFA must work immensely hard to make sure it becomes a hot summer ticket. They must provide more to the fans than just ninety minutes of football.

I remember as a kid being attracted to Adelaide City home games around Christmas when Santa would make an appearance handing gifts to the crowd.

The FFA must also start its own traditions so the fans know when these midweek games are on, having a consistent calendar from year to year. Perhaps staging rivalry rounds around significant dates, such as Australia Day or the like.

If the 2009/10 season started in the first week of October and ended in mid March, fitting perfectly outside the AFL season, the FFA would need to schedule six of its rounds in midweek which could slot into the December and January period.

When two more teams are added in 2010/11, the dilemma will be compounded.

The FFA may have to bite the bullet and start the season in the midst of the drama of September but take centre stage there after and become part of Australia’s summer sporting culture – hot summer nights, more football, Santa etc. Whatever it takes.

Being booed by their own fans inspired Sydney FC to a second half fightback in Friday night’s 1-1 A-League draw with Queensland at the Sydney Football Stadium.

A Steve Corica goal earned the home side a share of the points after a lacklustre first-half performance looked to have them headed for a third straight defeat.

Midfielder Matt McKay had put the Roar ahead in the 12th minute and Sydney looked lethargic and disjointed, leading them to be booed into the sheds at halftime by their smallest-ever crowd of 8502.

But Corica pounced on a Danny Tiatto mistake in the 64th minute to bring Sydney back to life.

They could have even stolen a win but striker Mark Bridge blasted a header into the crossbar five minutes later from a pin-point Robbie Middleby cross.

Sydney coach John Kosmina was proud of the comeback and said he used the fans turning on the team as motivation at the break.

“I actually said to them at halftime, go and stick it up the crowd,” Kosmina said.

“It was as simple as that.

“We dug our way out of a deep hole tonight, a real deep hole and in the end we probably could have come away with it.”
Sydney remain in sixth place after the draw, one point outside the top four, while the Roar moved into outright third.

The Roar took the lead when McKay scored in the 12th minute but the goal really belonged to youngster Tahj Minniecon.

The winger made a clever run down the left flank before cutting inside Shannon Cole and firing a low drive at goalkeeper Ivan Necevski, who fumbled before McKay pounced to net his third goal of the season.

Veteran Roar midfielder Charlie Miller almost doubled the lead when he latched onto a cut-back from Serginho Van Dijk but Necevski did well to block the scorching drive.

Miller was forced from the field five minutes before halftime with a hip injury, allowing Tiatto to make his comeback from a foot injury off the bench.

A disjointed Sydney continued to be outplayed into the second half until Tiatto failed to deal with a Middleby cross and Corica needed only the slightest of touches to trickle home an equaliser.

Both sides had chances to net a late winner, Queensland’s best coming to substitute Mitchell Nichols, who headed wide from close range.

Roar coach Frank Farina was pleased to come away from Sydney with a point.

“I suppose in the end a draw is a reasonably fair result,” Farina said.

The A-League needs to stop living in the past and signing players who were once effective and start taking more risks. Two players in particular come to mind with this, Fred and Yorke.

Both were great players and would be effective again in the A-League. However, we do need to venture out a little more, take more time in scouting marquee players, and results and attendances will follow because of the quality.

So, Newcastle are looking for a player who can be effective in the ACL and save their season?

Former FIFA World Player Ronaldo is currently looking for a club. He would no doubt attract more fans to go to games, as well as add some quality to the Newcastle attack.

He is currently training with Flamengo, but has also had an offer from Seire A side Siena. So he is obviously of some value in Europe.

Whilst his fitness is not up to scratch as of yet, shown after lasting just 22 minutes in a charity match, this could be a bargaining point for Newcastle.

On top of this, there have been numerous players who have come to the A-League unfit and who have turned out to be great players. An example is Carlos Hernandez.

Once fit (which should not take long), Ronaldo could really do some damage to defences in Asia and the A-League.

Hearty boomayes to Zeljko Kalac, who wants to return to the A-League to coach when his time is up at AC Milan. We need more of his kind back here, passing on their undoubted skills, knowledge and wisdom to the young generation of players currently learning their trade from the first wave of Australian coaches whose European playing careers predated Kalac and his peers: the Van Egmonds, the Kosminas, the Mitchells.

Arguably, because of their top-level experience, players coming to the end of their European careers such as Kalac have the potential to be even better coaches than those aforementioned. (We would want to bloody hope so.)

After all, GVE, arguably the best of the lot, never knew what it was like to be in a dressing-room with Kaka.

So there must be all manner of little things Kalac could pass on to young players, who would undoubtedly regard him with awe, purely on the basis of the company he’s kept the past few years.

Which, for me, naturally begs the question of why Mark Bosnich, currently without a club in Australia but to many minds one of the top three Australian football exports in the history of the game, hasn’t been given a player-assistant coach role with one of the existing eight A-League franchises or either one of the two start-ups slated for “Version 5.0″.

Bosnich was always to my mind a superior goalkeeper to Kalac and even our incumbent Socceroos No. 1, Mark Schwarzer. A freak.

And, while he was at the top with Aston Villa, Manchester United and Chelsea, he was a freak that played with and against the best of them in Europe.

Of course, he’s not the same player now; and he’s been through all sorts of personal torments that have left their mark on him physically and mentally. But on any given day, in close to full fitness, I’d bet he’d still wipe the floor against any of his A-League glovesmen. Talents like his are rare and they don’t reach such lofty heights by accident.

Bosnich is currently training with Sydney FC to get ready for an “Oceania All Stars” exhibition game against LA Galaxy in New Zealand early next month. Sydney already have an exceptional goalkeeping coach in John Filan, a man who was criminally overlooked by national selectors for the best part of his career, and just retired former Socceroo Tony Popovic has just come on board as Kosmina’s assistant, but the club could do a lot worse - they have done a lot worse - than try to tie Bozza down to a contract with some sort of coaching component for the senior or youth teams, provisional on him getting the necessary paperwork.

With John Aloisi backfiring terribly as Sydney’s “marquee” player, even sporadic playing appearances by Bosnich could lure some of Sydney’s fleet of annoyed fans back to the Sydney Football Stadium. (Current No. 1 Clint Bolton, might I add, has been targeted by North Queensland Fury as a possible acquisition, which does open up an interesting scenario.)

Then there would be the obvious benefits for Sydney of having arguably the two best Australian goalkeepers of the past 20 years on their staff.

(There is the small matter of how they could afford it, but Sydney has shown remarkable adeptness in getting around such trifle considerations in the past, have they not? Certainly this is one man who in my opinion would return big dividends on a small investment.)

It’s already an indictment of the A-League that Bosnich is without a club.

It would be a further injustice to him and to our football history if we were to let him see out a great career simply cooling his heels.

It’s been a crappy sort of year for Sydney FC, but with Bozza in its midst the club’s fortunes just might be changing.

The global financial crisis won’t stand in the way of the A-League’s expansion plans with Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy confident of a 12-team competition by the 2010-2011 season.

Speaking after the FFA’s annual general meeting on Tuesday, Lowy said expansion plans were full steam ahead despite the financial worries across the globe.

“If anything, it has accelerated the need for expansion,” Lowy said, adding that FFA’s fixed broadcasting and sponsorship agreements meant the sport could ride out the storm.

The A-League will expand to 10 teams next season with the addition of Gold Coast and North Queensland and Lowy all but confirmed the jump to 12 teams would happen almost immediately.

“Certainly I would hope the following year (2010-2011) we’ll have 12 teams,” Lowy said.

“I think at that time we need to reassess our capacity, our future.”

Second teams in Melbourne and Sydney are favoured to join the following year but there is also strong interest from consortiums in Tasmania and the NSW South Coast.

Lowy said he was confident Melbourne and Sydney could now support two teams but hinted teams from other regions could be included in the future even if they weren’t successful in the 2010-11 bid.

“I think beyond the 12 teams we should look places like Tasmania or some other places, there are moves in those areas,” Lowy said.

The expanded league will see the number of rounds increased from 21 to 27 next season, handing FFA a tough scheduling challenge to avoid too much competition with Australia’s rival football codes.

FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said options were discussed at Tuesday’s AGM but the federation was as yet undecided on which way to go.

He said the preference was to not have to move the start or end of the season too much as it would overlap with the rugby league, rugby union and AFL seasons.

But he hinted there could be midweek A-League games on a regular basis, similar to some overseas leagues such as the English Premier League.

“There’s certainly some positives about having midweek football,” Buckley said.

“We think there’s an opportunity for it, we haven’t determined that’s the direction we’ll go but it’s certainly on the drawing board.

“I think television would welcome it - if you look at any TV sports schedule during the course of the week, there’s not a lot of genuine competition during the summer months.”

Lowy reiterated his greatest desire was to see Australia host the 2018 World Cup, saying his ultimate fantasy would be to see the Socceroos play in the final of the tournament.

“To get the World Cup here is a mammoth task and if we are successful it means that we have been recognised internationally that Australia is a place to be,” Lowy said.

“That will be a very, very big achievement but we’re being considered and I think we are being considered as a very strong candidate by the authorities that be.”

The FFA also announced a modest operating surplus for the financial year of almost $1 million in its fifth year of operation.

The league will expand to 10 teams next season with the addition of Gold Coast and North Queensland, meaning the competition will increase from 21 rounds to 27.

FFA said today it was reluctant to push forward either the start or the end of the A-League season to include the extra fixtures as it would create too much overlap with the rugby league, rugby union and AFL seasons.

But the federation is investigating the possibility of holding fixtures midweek as several overseas leagues do, including the English Premier League.

“It’s certainly on the drawing board,” FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said.

FFA chairman Frank Lowy said he expected the league to immediately jump from 10 to 12 teams in the season after next (2010-2011), with second Melbourne and Sydney teams favoured to take spots.

“I certainly hope that the following year we will have 12 teams,” Lowy said.

“Then I think at that time we will need to kind of reassess our capacity and our future.”

Asia’s top club competition will be expanded from 28 to 32 teams but with stricter criteria for participation in an effort to raise standards.

And in a huge boost to the tournament, prize money will be massively increased to $US14 million ($A21.51 million), with the eventual winners taking home $US1.5 million ($A2.31 million) plus bonuses from earlier rounds.

“We have been working on it for three years. It was in the drafting stage until now,” he said on the sidelines of the Asian Football Confederation’s annual awards ceremony and end-of-year meetings.

“Next year, we are going to implement it and in the future we hope the Asian league will be able to compete with Europe.”

The AFC is attempting to make football in the region more professional and has laid down tough new rules for entry into the 2009 Champions League.

Leagues wishing to take part have had to satisfy the governing body that they meet certain standards regarding team affairs, attendances, marketing, stadiums and media arrangements.

So far only 11 countries have made the grade, with just one — Japan’s J-League — satisfying all criteria.

Each ACL team will be able to field a maximum of four foreign players, one of whom must be from an Asian country.

Bin Hammam, touted as a successor to FIFA president Sepp Blatter when his term runs out in 2011, stressed that clubs must become more professional.

“Officials must be paid and players have to be paid generously,” he said.

“We have 46 member nations in the confederation but hardly 10 countries are competitive.”

He added that ultimately football was about entertainment and crowds would only come to watch if they got their money’s worth.

“The end product has to be entertaining. Football is all about entertainment. You can’t expect fans to come and watch a boring game.”

The new-look AFC Champions League will be officially launched ahead of the Club World Cup in Tokyo next month, which features continental champions, including Manchester United.

Thompson’s first touch was deft, but Victory supporters were never to find out how good his second would be as the linesman’s flag went straight up.

From the third tier of the Telstra Dome, almost directly along the halfway line, it appeared that Thompson was onside.

Indeed, it appeared so close that probably 21,455 pairs of eyes turned to the Dome’s two big screens to see if the linesman had got it right.

But a replay was not forthcoming.

Instead, spectators simply got an eyeful of the TAC’s road safety campaign.

Mariners fans would have been even more frustrated not to have seen vision of Dylan Macallister’s disallowed goal just after half time.

The decision, which curiously did not warrant broaching in the match report on the A-League’s website, would have had far more bearing on the game than the Thompson one earlier.

Replays showed later on Fox Sports confirmed the decision was incorrect, but those in the crowd were again left wondering as the TAC’s campaign got another spin.

The reluctance to show any incident even mildly controversial is a long-standing practice at the Telstra Dome, but never fails to rile the punters.

From the creation of the A-League, Football Federation Australia has endeavoured to steer away from providing any type of avenue for supporter aggression at games.

By doing so, it has all but banished from Australian club football the spectre of violence that constantly haunted the NSL.

For this it deserves credit. No one wants to feel uncomfortable or intimidated while watching the team they love.

But surely sanitization such as this is one neurotic step too far.

And as one Victory member on Friday night pointed out, allowing replays can only lead to the improvement of the standard of refereeing throughout the league.

Referees cop criticism – some warranted, some not – everywhere around the world. Of course, they always deserve respect.

But televising incidents at games will mean officials will have to take responsibility for their decisions, and that healthy pressure should lead to better refereeing.

That – as well as the ability to get the answers to their questions on game day – is an outcome that the paying punters deserve.

Bizarre goings-on, as usual, in the Asian Football Confederation this week with AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam doing a complete 360 on his stated opposition to a 39th round of the English Premier League in Asia.

Hammam was one of the most vociferous opponents of the concept – which involved EPL teams playing a round in key marketing territories outside England – and there were few who supported it; I was one of them, it should be pointed out.

I thought the 39th round was a natural extension of what the Premier League was already doing in Asia and a signal of its willingness to counter the popularity of the booming Indian Premier League cricket tournament on the subcontinent.

It was also a defensive gambit against predatory entrepreneurs.

As I wrote back in April, “Was it really so bad for Scudamore to try to leverage the value of his own product before a Lalit Modi-style promoter (the man who invented the IPL) comes and tries to do something similar with EPL football?”

Hammam’s opposition was founded on a simple premise. The EPL wasn’t giving anything to Asia, just taking. And he didn’t mince his words.

“I can’t see the wisdom in the proposed plans,” he said at the time. “My recommendation to the AFC executive committee would be to reject any initiatives of this nature. And we would urge the AFC member associations to protect their own national leagues and clubs within their territories.”

Which Football Federation Australia, a lickspittle of the AFC, did in a flash.

Now Hammam’s changed his tune completely, having apparently been convinced by Scudamore that it wasn’t football imperialism at all and in fact an act of benevolence.

“I think the EPL are mature enough to understand that it is not all about money, but it is about what legacy they can leave behind them in Asia and how they can support other clubs and leagues in Asia to come up with their football,” he said. “This is what is now on the agenda of the Premier League.”

Of course, I wasn’t privy to anything that went on between the Qatari powerbroker and his English silvertail counterpart, but it really is something of an extraordinary volte face. Scudamore must have promised a lot.

And, crucially, it leaves the FFA in an exceptionally invidious position.

When the AFC made its original opposition to the 39th round abundantly clear to its member associations, the FFA was very vocal in its opposition to the idea.

Chairman Frank Lowy, not usually the spokesman for such matters, came out and declared the concept was dead in the water: “The bottom line is FFA rejects the notion of another country playing a round of their domestic competition in Australia and intruding on the development of the Hyundai A-League and the game in Australia.”

So much for that.

Now chief executive Ben Buckley is heading to the AFC Awards in Shanghai, scheduled to meet Hammam.

You can bet he will be returning home singing a markedly different tune.

Importantly, however, Buckley should take some encouragement from the fact that Hammam has demonstrated some pragmatism in this instance.

It shows that the whole issue of Wellington Phoenix being booted out of the A-League after 2011 is anything but a fait accompli and there must be some room for negotiation.

If Hammam really is fair dinkum about raising the quality of Asian football as he repeatedly insists he is, then he is doing a disservice to Australia, one of his most powerful allies, by eliminating a team that currently sits sixth in our national league.

Removing Wellington would be an act of utter stupidity and leave the A-League very much the poorer.
Let’s trust Hammam comes to his senses a second time around.

But finishing top of their groups is another incentive enticing the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid ahead of Wednesday’s penultimate round of group games.

Of the 16 teams in action, only two - Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon - have qualified for the lucrative knockout phase where drawn rival teams play each other home and away once in a bid to make the quarter-finals.

For the teams in the three other groups, things are more open.

Chelsea lead Roma and Bordeaux by just a point in group A, Cypriot surprise package Anorthosis are hoping to pip Panathinaikos to join almost qualified Inter Milan from group B and Liverpool and Atletico have virtually sealed the top two spots in group D.

With 10 points from four games Barcelona need only a draw away to Sporting Lisbon to retain the lead of Group C ahead of their final group game at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on December 9.

Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona beat Sporting 3-1 in their opening group fixture, but the possible absence of injured Argentine Lionel Messi and Barcelona’s unexpected 1-1 Spanish league draw at home to Getafe may have given hope to Sporting.

While Shakhtar host FC Basel hoping to hold on to third place and a UEFA Cup spot, Guardiola says he can cope with losing a key player such as Messi.

“He is a special player that is key for us but I have others,” said Guardiola.

Atletico and Liverpool are also battling for top spot in Group D - and it could all come down to who scores the most goals.

Both sides are eyeing victory on Wednesday with Atletico, who lead Liverpool only on goal difference, welcoming PSV Eindhoven while Rafa Benitez’s Reds host UEFA Cup-bound Marseille.

Liverpool will be keen to avoid another slip-up, 13 months after the French side secured an unlikely 1-0 win at Anfield. However recent statistics go in their favour.

This season Liverpool have beaten the French side twice at the Stade Velodrome.

And Marseille’s away results - losing at Atletico and PSV as well as Liverpool - have been less than impressive.

“You are always worried when you play Liverpool,” admitted Dutchman Boudewijn Zenden, who rescued Marseille with a late strike in a 2-2 home draw against Lille on Sunday.

“They are a team in the top two in England. It’ll be very difficult, but we are not afraid.”

Group A is far more open and Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc will be hoping for an off-night from Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka, his former France teammate during ‘Les Bleus’ triumphant Euro 2000 campaign.

Defeat for Chelsea would prove disastrous for Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Blues, who have qualified for the knockout phase for the past six successive seasons and, with Roma travelling to CFR Cluj, would split the group wide open.

But Scolari is taking heart from his side’s solid form away from home, albeit in the Premier League.

“It is easier for us to win away from home,” said Scolari.

“We will go to Bordeaux for the victory and we need a win in France to qualify for the next round.”

In Group B victory for Inter against resurgent Panathinaikos in Milan would guarantee they go through as group winners.

Panathinaikos are living more in hope than expectation having only revived a stuttering group campaign with a 3-0 away defeat of already eliminated Werder Bremen on their last outing a fortnight ago.

Japan dominated the annual Asian Football Confederation awards, with Gamba’s Akira Nishino winning coach of the year and late Japan Football Association president Ken Naganuma handed a lifetime achievement award.

The country also won the fair play award while Homare Sawa won the women’s player of the year at a separate ceremony last week.

But it was Uzbek international Djeparov who won the top honour ahead of Japan’s Gamba midfielder Yasuhito Endo, considered to be the frontrunner after being voted most valuable player at this year’s AFC Champions League.

The influential midfielder, who played a key role in Kuruvchi’s domestic double and their AFC Champions League campaign this year, said he was honoured.

“It is so surprising to receive this trophy,” he said.

“I want to thank all Uzbekis. They told me to come home with this trophy and I am.”

Nishino was named coach of the year for guiding Gamba to the AFC Champions League title, where they beat Adelaide United 5-0 on aggregate in the final and secured a place in the Club World Cup in Japan next month.

“It is incredible,” he said. “Thank you to my team, they are wonderful players.

“I’ll continue to work to contribute to the development of Gamba Osaka, Japanese football and Asian football.”

United Arab Emirate’s Ahmed Kalil was named youth player of the year while Uzbekistan’s Ravshan Irmatov was referee of the year.

Mitcham was one of several 2008 Olympic medallists including Sally McLellan, Emma Snowsill and Melissa Wu who have competed in the AYOF.

Speaking at Tuesday’s launch of the 2009 Festival in Sydney, Mitcham said competing at the 2003 and 2005 festivals had been a major part of his development towards gold in Beijing this year.

“It was awesome,” Mitcham said.

“The set-up and the competition format are really similar to the Olympic Games.

“You are living in a village community and eat in a food hall. It really did give me a taste of what was to come.”

The 2009 AYOF will be held in Sydney’s 2000 Olympic venues from January 14-18 and will boast over 1500 athletes from 27 countries in 17 sports.

Chile, Norway and Kazakhstan will compete in the AYOF for the first time next year.

ej/gc

Premier League boss Richard Scudamore created headlines when he mooted the prospect of hosting a full round of Premier League fixtures at venues across the globe earlier this year.

The plan was widely condemned by football bureaucrats including Bin Hammam but the Asian boss said a discussion with Scudamore had changed his attitude towards the idea.

“I’m convinced that if they want to go ahead with their plan, and I’m not sure if they want to, they are welcome in Asia,” he told AFP.

Melbourne was one of several Asian cities proposed as a likely venue for one of the Premier League games when the idea was first raised by Scudamore.

But an FFA spokesperson said Australia would only be a part of the plan if it could be assured the matches wouldn’t undermine the A-League’s standing here.

“It’s very important any domestic league is allowed to develop in its own right, it all depends on the timing of it,” the spokesperson said.

“We’d have to look at what the rationale is for the change in view from the president of the AFC.

“Our focus is on the growth and development of the A-League.”

Bin Hammam said he had been convinced by Scudamore the Premier League was concerned more with developing the game globally than making a quick buck.

“I think the EPL are mature enough to understand that it is not all about money, but it is about what legacy they can leave behind them in Asia and how they can support other clubs and leagues in Asia to come up with their football,” he said.

“This is what is now on the agenda of the Premier League.”

But the concept of a top-flight fixture played overseas is far from a done deal, with plenty of opposition still to overcome, although Scudamore insisted last month the idea would come to fruition.