AFC Asian Cup 2007 hosts sign Organising Association Agreement

AFC and the four national associations hosting the 2007 AFC Asian Cup today signed the legal contract confirming their status as Official Hosts.

Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam all put pen to paper, making their status as hosts official, and emphasizing their commitment to the success of this competition which shall take place from Saturday 7th July to Sunday 29th July 2007.

In his opening address at today”s meeting, AFC President Mohamed bin Hammam said: SI am positive that our four organizing associations will all rise to the challenge of hosting what we hope will be AFC”s best competition to date. We are all determined to work together to make a very successful competition.⬝

SUp until now, all planning is going to schedule. The signing of the Organisation Association Agreements is a milestone in the staging of AFC competitions as we enter a new era of professionalism.⬝

Following the progress reports from each host association, the President continued to state that he was pleased with the presentations and confident that there will be full cooperation between the administrations of AFC and the four hosts.

Commenting on recent negative media reports, Bin Hammam remarked that there were logistical and financial difficulties in hosting a competition in four different countries, a view which he had expressed in a recent interview. However, these remarks were taken out of context as his comments in the same interview regarding his optimism concerning the anticipated success of AFC Asian Cup 2007 were not mentioned.