Asia Angle: Challenge to fill stadiums for Asian Cup hosts UAE

andrewbinner 09:43 11/03/2015
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  • Cheerleading: The UAE will need to reach out to expat communities as well as other countries in the region in order to fill stadia.

    It was the least surprising announcement in Asian football since Marcello Lippi said he was leaving Guangzhou Evergrande to return to Italy. The 2019 Asian Cup has been in the bag of the United Arab Emirates for some time. Officials of the federation have known but just were unable or unwilling to say anything in public before the March 9 announcement made it official.

    Now there are almost four years to prepare to stage Asia’s biggest football tournament. Things have changed since 1996, the last time the country hosted. It was a much more low key event back then.

    The obvious difference is the 50% expansion in terms of participants. Staging a 24-team tournament is no small task. That is 24 team bases, camps, hotels and training facilities. And that’s not all. Eight more teams means eight more nations that will be sending journalists, officials and fans. That’s great if you are ready, less so if you are not.

    You would assume that this is something that the federation has already considered and planned for but it is should not be underestimated. There has been some opposition to the expansion and much of it comes from concerns about the standard of football on the pitch with an extra eight teams that are theoretically weaker being added to the mix. There’s not much that the host can do about that but there will be plenty of scrutiny on the expanded tournament off the pitch too. Any problems will be used as extra evidence that an enlarged competition is a mistake.

    Compared to 1996, the Asian Cup is a genuinely international sporting event. Even since 2007, there has been major growth in its profile around the world. The difference in the number of journalists, articles and broadcasts in 2019 compared to 1996 will be huge. It has also changed since the last time it was in west Asia – when Qatar hosted in 2011.

    The only focus for the UAE has to be ensuring that 2019 is better than 2015. This means a host country that comes out in numbers to watch and participate with few problems off the pitch to distract. It is no secret that the UAE is not known for filling its football stadia. Australia has a strong culture of fans going out to watch sports but still worked hard.

    Being active on social media was an obvious strategy and one that can’t be stated highly enough. Australian organisers were active on the usual platforms years out from the kick-off. The country tapped into its multicultural strengths, appointing ambassadors who reached out to the different communities in the country. These, in turn, turned out to support their teams and gave plenty of games plenty of atmosphere.

    UAE may not quite have those resources but is located in a football-loving region and surrounded by countries that will be represented in 2019. It is time to reach out to those neighbours and start talking about promoting and trying to ensure that as many of their supporters as possible make the short journey four years from now. The relative lack of travelling fans was a little disappointing in 2011.

    The UAE has to understand that the Asian Cup has made great strides as a competition but still has more to make. It still struggles in comparison to the African Nations Cup in terms of global attention. Asia may not yet have the huge stars that play in the biennial tournament which makes it all the more important that everything off the field goes as smoothly as possible.

    Perhaps Qatar can help. UAE could do worse than consult the organisers of the 2022 World Cup to find out if there is any way in which the two tournaments can help each other. At the very least, the UAE staging a great competition with full arenas will show what a football-loving region it is as well as providing a benchmark for Qatar to live up to three years later.

    Last but not least are the expats. The country’s clubs have often been slow to embrace the international community in the country, much of which already has a passion for the game. It is a mistake that Asian Cup organisers have to avoid. This is a ready-made audience for a major international tournament. It has to be cultivated,

    The sooner it all starts the better. The UAE has known for some time it would get the 2019 competition. The hard work should start now.

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