Rugby league is big, AFL is bigger. Rugby Union, with it’s international reach, is bigger still. But the incredible profile of football will be proven (yet again) to Australian audiences on Wednesday when Sydney FC play Urawa Red Diamonds in the Asian Champions League in Sydney.
Urawa are the Manchester United of the East. They have an enormous following and their playing roster is valued at around US$25 million. The match on Wednesday will be watched in 23 million homes in Japan and 98 million households across Asia. And, that’s without the massive audience in China, who won’t be watching because local broadcasters will be televising matches involving Chinese teams. The game will, however, be watched in countries such as Thailand, Korea, Indonesia and across western Asia and the Middle East.
The Asian Champions League is the Asian equivalent to the UEFA Cup, a huge competition which stirs both club and patriotic emotions. Just less than a million people attended the 26-game competition last year, while more than 130 million watched on television, a rise of 150 per cent on the previous year. There is plenty of space in Australia for numerous popular sports. Australia’s A-League had average crowds of over 14,000 last season, putting it 13th in the world list of most popular football leagues.
The AFL gets more people to its games. However, when it comes to international competition, football has no peer.
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