Malaysian Consul General to Victoria Dato Dr Rameez Yahaya was joined by AMBC Victoria President Mr. Joe Perri and AMBC Victoria Committee Member Mr Peter Moran at an information event on Wednesday evening (7/5/2014, from 6 pm till 8.00 pm). The event was organised by the Victorian Department of State Development, Business and Innovation for a briefing on the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup to be hosted by Australia in January 2015 (9 January till 31 January 2014). The main reason for the event was to provide consular staff and representatives of key bilateral business chambers from the Asian and Oceania region a briefing on the Asian Cup, and the business opportunities which will arise during the tournament.
The keynote presentation was delivered by The Hon Louise Asher MP, Minister for Tourism and Major Events, Employment and Trade. Minister Asher was joined by Minister for Sport & Recreation Mr Damian Drum MLC and former Victorian Premier The Hon Ted Baillieu MP Member for Hawthorn. Sporting personalities and senior members of the AFC Local Organizing Committee were also in attendance to provide their support for the event.
The AFC football matches will involve 16 teams from Asia and will be held at four major stadiums in Australia (Canberra Stadium, Canberra; Stadium Australia, Sydney; Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane; and Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne). The 16 teams are Australia, Republic of Korea, Oman Kuwait, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, China, North Korea, Iran, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Japan, Jordan, Iraq and Winner 2014 Challenge Cup.
Asian Cup will attract 3,500 representatives of the international media to cover the tournament and the games will be broadcast to a TV audience of 2.5 billion in 80 countries – the majority in Asia. 80 million people across Asia currently play football and the popularity of the sport is expected to increase dramatically to 380 million by 2020.
