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The hugely successful Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President’s initiatives, which have aided the development of many of AFC Member Associations (MA), should be extended, the AFC Development Committee agreed on Friday, April 14.
Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, the AFC Development Committee, chaired by HE Mohamed Khalfan MS Al Romaithi, recommended that the President’s Initiatives should now include infrastructure projects which will further assist the MAs.
The new additional fund, which will join the mini-pitch, expert pool, live streaming, Competition Management System (CMS) and competition fund projects, will provide revenue in areas such as floodlights, scoreboards, pitch maintenance equipment, football-related infrastructure at training and technical centres, fencing and other specific requirements.
The AFC would make a maximum contribution in the current commercial cycle (ending in late 2020) of US$300,000. From the total cost, the AFC will provide 75 percent with the remainder coming from the MA.
All projects will be carefully monitored and tender processes will be in place for the proposed activities which will help the MAs reach their maximum potential. As the AFC Development Committee Chairman said: “The success of the AFC depends on the success and strength of its MAs.”
Already under the President’s Initiatives in 2017 there are mini-pitches scheduled or delivered in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal and the Palestine.
At the same time, the Expert Pool scheme has completed academy assessment work in Saudi Arabia and is working in India on women’s football and in Mongolia on coach education while Indonesia, Thailand and Tajikistan are all benefiting from assistance in refereeing.
The Live Streaming platform, delivered by partners Mycujoo, have 17 MAs taking part and these have accumulated more than 1 million viewers, with a particular success being the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. In total, more than 190 matches have been watched by viewers from more than 100 countries worldwide.
The CMS will be implemented in 11 MAs by mid-2017 while the Competition Fund has assisted Bangladesh with equipment for their under-16 women’s team and Tajikistan for tracking equipment which is used to benefit the women’s national team.
