If ‘quality football’ was the bait to lure the hidden – or as some would suggest “Euro-snob” – football fans of Australia, then surely the Asian Champions League would be the competition to do so?
Unfortunately, the ACL remains just as foreign to Australian football fans as trophies to Sydney FC in recent times.
For Australian football fans, talk usually resides around one of four topics: the A-League, English Premier League, Europeans Champions League and/or international football.
One topic which barely rates a mention, unless there is participation from an A-League team, is the Asian Champions League.
The ACL is a competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which consists of 46 Member Associations and one Associate Member Association (the Northern Mariana Islands).
The AFC is responsible for running football in Asia. Among its various responsibilities are:
• Regulating the game
• Drafting new laws to improve the sport
• Implementing the law
• Boosting grassroots and youth football
• Conducting major competitions
In the latest edition of the ACL, Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande – the team that knocked A-League’s Central Coast Mariners out of this very competition – have just broke China’s 23-year Asian title drought.
After a 2-2 draw in the first leg, away to K-League outfit FC Seoul, Evergrande travelled home to Tianhe Stadium and what many predicted would be theirs for the taking.
With star imports Muriqui, Elkeson, Dario Conca for Evergrande and Adilson and Molina for Seoul showing their class, the 55,847 in attendance were treated to a highly entertaining and fruitful football match.
With nothing to separate the two sides over two legs, Evergrande would be crowned champions based on away goals with a 1-1 draw.
With an improved showing from all teams involved throughout this ACL campaign, the AFC were pleased to announce the record viewing numbers that came with a great tournament.
Evergrande’s triumph on Saturday attracted the largest TV audience for a sporting event in China this year, with an average audience totalling over 30 million.
The AFC’s commercial partner World Sport Group said the 2013 Champions League achieved a combined average rating of 280 million, with a combined reach of 1.37 billion viewers.
“The final of the AFC Champions League is the pinnacle of club football in Asia and these record TV audience figures highlight the popularity of the competition and the desire for fans to watch in ever increasing numbers,” said Dato’ Alex Soosay, general secretary of the AFC.
“This year’s AFC Champions League…has been a huge success both on and off the field and has highlighted the impressive growth of the competition.
“With the draw for the 2014 AFC Champions League set to take place at the start of December, planning is already underway to ensure the competition continues to flourish next year and in the seasons beyond.”
If these numbers weren’t already food for thought as to the potential positives of participating in the ACL, then Pierre Justo, managing director of CSM Media Research KantarSport, added: “If we set aside the FIFA World Cup and football matches at the Olympics, the second leg of the AFC Champions League final attracted the highest football audience on TV in China for nearly a decade on CCTV-5 alone.”
“And again excluding the recent coverage of the Olympic Games in 2008 and 2012 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup which was in some cases aired at prime time in China, this year’s AFC Champions League final has clearly become one of the top sporting events on TV in China in last decade and is clearly a benchmark for the future.
“The figures for Guangdong Satellite are impressive as it is very rare for this particular channel to air a sporting event, while the total reach achieved by Guangdong Sports is two times higher than its previous best football audience of the year.”
Unfortunately for the Mariners and like many other A-League teams before them, with Adelaide and Melbourne the exception on one occasion respectively, interest remains minimal in both a television viewing and attendance sense.
Although the Mariners are not the best example to use when assessing the interest levels of the ACL, their last campaign, while being their most successful on-field, was very poor off-field.
Over the course of the four home matches they held, only 24,623 fans attended at an average of 6,155 per match.
Attendances aside could be forgiven if the viewing numbers were worth mentioning but due to the lack of ease in finding these numbers, it is clear it too wasn’t a highlight.
Surveying the web for coverage of the ACL final is also minimal if not barren from an Australian sporting media sense. The last article I can see on Fox Sports about the ACL is about the Mariners crashing out.
Thankfully SBS are reliable for reporting on all things football, but even in regards to the ACL, they provide no in-depth quality analysis or live coverage of these games.
Can you blame them though? Australian football fans would much rather vest their time into a 3am game between Barcelona and Real Madrid, but who can blame them either?
The quality factor would be an argument utilised to settle this debate but I watch all fours forms as mentioned earlier and keep a vested interest in the ACL and to be honest Evergrande versus Seoul was one of the more entertaining and quality filled matches I’ve seen for some time.
The importance of this competition cannot be understated, and as evidence would suggest, it is only going to get bigger.
The prospect of testing our ability against developing Asian nations with a populous to boot could do wonders for the A-League and Australian football.
But if football is to become number one, which I don’t doubt for one second, then ensuring Australian football fans of all walks are educated about Asian football and the ACL is paramount.
This is just another cog in the wheel that requires much attention to ensure viability and sustainability for our A-League clubs and Football Federation Australia.
bryan
Guest
To most Aussies,"ACL" means Anterior Cruciate Ligament! :) Seriously,though, to me,our participation looks like something tacked on at the end of the "A" league season. If it was a League which ran in the normal season,with our teams regularly playing others from Asia we would get used to seeing those teams as rivals,rather than "some big Chinese/Korean/Japanese team" Our counterparts in other countries would recognise our teams,instead of "Perth What?" "Melbourne Who?" "Roar?--that's a bleep stupid name!" Of course,that isn't going to happen,as nobody wants to dismantle their domestic competition to promote regionalism.
JK
Guest
To me the number one problem right off the bat at the moment is the timing of when the group stages start. they start WAY too late in the A league fixture when supporter interest has died off for half the teams. It should have roughly the same timing as the European group stages....ie seeing these games on the 3rd of 4th round in a new season and culminating with the final right after the GF would make a huge difference. Hence another reason why we need to lengthen the season and have more teams It's a bit hard to be interested when your team has qualified from last year, and are sitting at the bottom of the A league table towards the end of the season. And having group stages during the HAL finals series is farcical to say the least
AZ_RBB
Guest
Has anyone mentioned that most teams in the ACL struggle for good crowds. Even the famous Urawa Reds struggle to get over 25k. The Chinese teams do well though.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Thought so. So therefore scenario 3 applies to the Wanderers, Mariners and Victory for ACL 2014. Fingers crossed Victory get in, perhaps we could see the rivalry step-up another level. Who can outdo the other in terms of ACL support?!
Squizz
Guest
The premiers will be awarded the 1st allocation, whilst the Champions (winner of the grand final) will be awarded the 2nd spot. Should the Premiers also be the Champions than the 2nd ACL spot will be awarded to the team that finishes 2nd on the ladder during the regular season. Should FFA be awarded 3 ACL spots (either directly or through a play-off scenario) than the allocation will be as above, with the 1st spot going to the Premiers, 2nd spot will go to the Champions (should the Champions not be the Premiers), and 3rd spot will be allocated to the next highest finishing Club on the ladder (excluding the Premiers and Champions). Scenario 1 – Premiers, Champions, and 2nd in the regular season are all different Clubs ACL Spot 1 Premiers ACL Spot 2 Champions ACL Spot 3 2nd in the regular season Scenario 2 – Premiers and Champions are the same Club ACL Spot 1 Premiers, Champions ACL Spot 2 2nd in the regular season ACL Spot 3 3rd in the regular season Scenario 3 – Champions and 2nd in the regular season are the same Club ACL Spot 1 Premiers ACL Spot 2 Champions, 2nd in the regular season ACL Spot 3 3rd in the regular season
Cameron
Roar Guru
Not to mention a phenomenal boost if the thoughts of AFC president Shaikh Salmin bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa are anything to go by: "Guangzhou Evergrande has infused a new life into Chinese football and I am confident that this will benefit not only the Chinese Super League but also the national team in a big way,” he said. "Chinese football plays an important role in the growth of Asian football and this triumph will help spreading the game to a larger audience in the world’s most populous country.” Congratulating Guangzhou Evergrande, the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Super League, Shaikh Salman said the Chinese champions displayed tremendous determination throughout their campaign and deserve highest appreciation. “This remarkable achievement is surely a result of hard work put in by the Chinese Football Association, the Chinese Super League and the club itself. “Guangzhou Evergrande’s successful campaign also helped the competition reach to a wider television audience.” He hoped that Guangzhou Evergrande will reflect the good image of Asian football and will make the continent proud at the FIFA Club World Cup to be held in Morocco next month. “ "Guangzhou Evergrande’s excellent consistent performance shows that they are the rightful representatives of Asia for the FIFA Club World Cup title. “I would like to wish them the very best and hope that they will return triumphant from Morocco.” Winning this could do wonders for the sport in Australia!
Cameron
Roar Guru
Hope your right 1860, but I unfortunately can't find anything to solidify this statement. Hope for you to find it, would love to read..
gumpy
Guest
In my opinion it's largely the AFC's fault for being so 'stingy'...they do surely have the money/resources to stump up travelling/accomodation/promotion costs for the matches(which is what UEFA does for their comps), but leave it up to the individual clubs to sort out. If the AFC were to pump decent dosh into promoting the comp, it would flow on down to the relevant/related markets over time. On a side note, it is somewhat farcical that the AFC divides its continental club-comps over 3-tiered tournaments(Champions League, AFC Cup and President's Cup) - take UEFA, who let Sammarinese clubs compete in Champions League qualifying rounds for instance, but under the AFC's watch the ACL won't be open to Indian/Sri Lankan/East Timorese etc. clubs any time soon...
Cameron Kellett
Guest
Craig, to answer your first question, yes. To answer your second question, i'm about 99% certain that if say Brisbane Roar were to win the premiership and championship, the second placed team in regular season will get the 2nd ACL spot. I believe Victory will also get a chance to qualify for ACL 2014.
Alessandro Vari
Roar Pro
And will hence show why Sydney is the Football capital of Australia
1860melbourne
Guest
I believe a decision will be made late this month to increase the prize money of the ACL from 2014 . The winner will receive 10 million dollars.An increase from the present 1.5 million. From group stage participation to the eventual winner the prizemoney is expected to get a heavy increase.. The competition is expected to be expanded to include 23 nation instead of the present top 10 AFC nations. Will try to find link.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
is it the A-League champions and premiers that play in it? If this is one and the same team who is the 2nd team?
realfootball
Guest
There is no escaping the core problem: our team's aren't competitive. If A League teams were regularly featuring from the Quarters on, there would be plenty of interest. Don't forget that SFC and MV both drew decent crowds to their first ACL games - then failure and disappointment killed any interest. Serious damage was done when the great Brisbane Roar team went absolutely nowhere in the tournament. Of course there's little attention from the media and the public. It is very difficult to celebrate failure. Adelaide's run to the Final, an anomaly, demonstrated that if our clubs get decent results and progress, the interest will be there. Once again, Wanderers may prove to be game changers, but good support won't be enough. They have to progress from their group.
Mike
Roar Guru
I'll be happy with any A-League team that can win the ACL! It would be a huge honour for us and football in Australia.
Matthew Skellett
Guest
I sincerely wish that WSW hold da flag for the A-League in the ACL and win it in their first year of competing -good luck boys !!!!! Godspeed!!!!!!
Towser
Guest
Spot on Franko.
Jorji Costava - The Guru's Guru
Guest
Or I could just stream it off the internet for free and save myself the trouble. The only problem has been the commentary can end up in Arabic or some eastern Asian tongue. Fortunately the pictures are all in English.
Jorji Costava - The Guru's Guru
Guest
You have answered your own question. If noone is prepared to buy he rights to AFC CL then there is no value to it. They should give it away in order to build an audience. At one point in time, every major sport started off "free" until an audience was prepared to pay for it. The VFL/AFL was the VFA originally and that was free to start with. Same goes with college football, which morphed into NFL in America. The same happened to English soccer. You see old paintings of early FA Cup matches in museums with supporters standing on he sidelines. Jimmy Page the legendary guitarist of Led Zeppelin fame started playing by busking on the streets of London It all had to start somewhere.
AZ_RBB
Guest
I have fairly low expectations. I just hope each of the 3 home games get a good crowd. Going by the quality CCM faced last season, it'll be a rough but exciting ride.
Franko
Guest
I'd hazard a guess that in the 60's your average Brit thought of the continent in a very similar way to your average Aussie does of Asia now - with a does of ignorance and a splash of naivety.