Qatar to Stage 2011 Asian Cup

Rocky10 · Post by **Rocky10** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 9:16 pm

Qatar to Stage 2011 Asian Cup

The Asian Football Confederation have announced that the 2011 Asian Cup will be held in Qatar.

AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam confirmed the event would be played in the Gulf state following the organisation's executive committee meeting in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, the venue for this year's Asian Cup final.

Qatar were the sole bidders for the event following the withdrawal of India's bid and the Iran Football Federation's failure to submit the official documents.

However, the AFC revealed they were impressed by the quality of the Qatari bid and are confident of the country's ability to host the Asian continent's biggest international football tournament.

"Because of the high standards and criteria we are applying for any tournament, it is not possible for every country to host the AFC Asian Cup," said Hammam.

"From tournament to tournament, the standards will continue to get higher and higher and it is up to the host country to ensure that all measures are in place to host a successful event.

"We need to organise our tournaments in the best environment and we have to ensure that the teams have the best facilities available and that there is good access for fans to come and watch the games.

"These are the sorts of things that a host country must provide."

With the tournament going to Qatar, the AFC president also admitted that Australia had been interested in applying to host the 2011 event.

"Australia were very interested in submitting a bid but, due to the rotation of the event, it was decided that the candidates for the 2011 competition would be restricted to the South, Central and West Asian regions," he said.

After announcing the decision, Hammam revealed that the tournament is likely to take place in January due to concerns about the weather in the Middle East during the summer months.

"Immediately after this meeting we will have to establish an organising committee for the 2011 tournament to decide on these matters, but the indication is that it should be played in January," he said.

"On the FIFA calendar, the confederations can host their events in January or July, but as July is the hot season in the Middle East the tournament cannot be played then."

It is the second time that Qatar has been selected to stage the tournament following its hosting of the 1988 competition.

As a Qatari himself, Hammam was naturally delighted with the decision.

"Qatar is my home and maybe this will give me a reason to spend more of my time there," he said.

"Hopefully it will be a successful tournament."

pires7 · Post by **pires7** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:32 pm

With this anouncement in mind lets hope we study the conditions and prepare some freindlies is similar conditions etc. to be better prepared for next time!! Lets not play denmark or uraguay to prepare for an asian tournement, what a waste of time!

Hawkesy · Post by **Hawkesy** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:49 pm

You'll probably have your training camp in tasmania. After all the conditions are similar to Qatar.

I presume with the heat there, all games will have to be at night.

rooboy1986 · Post by **rooboy1986** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 12:05 pm

I heard it was going to be held in January window... means will be cooler... maybe better for our guys... still no excuse if you ask me...

Hawkesy · Post by **Hawkesy** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 4:11 am

rooboy1986 wrote:I heard it was going to be held in January window... means will be cooler... maybe better for our guys... still no excuse if you ask me...

no january window for English based players, so do you think their clubs are going to be particulary happy about releasing them for this tournament. OK they don't have a chice but could mean the difference between aussies being signed in the future or not.

PunkFarker · Post by **PunkFarker** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 11:17 pm

Is SQatar anywhere near southern Greece? the name sounds familiar when playin greek teams. i heard them shout the name alot!