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By David Owen
January 12 – The hard-fought contest to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups is turning into a goldmine for world football confederations.
Within days of the revelation that Qatar has signed an exclusive sponsorship deal with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) covering this month’s CAF Congress, it has emerged that CAF’s Asian counterpart is auctioning sponsorship of its 2010 Annual Awards.
In a letter addressed to 13 World Cup bidding committees – and seen by insideworldfootball – the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) says it has been contacted by “one of the FIFA World Cup Bidding Committee [sic] to be the exclusive official partner of the AFC Annual Award 2010”.
The letter continues: “Therefore, AFC would also like to open the opportunity to all the other bidding committees.
“Being the most prestigious annual event of AFC, it provides a unique opportunity for your organization to achieve pervasive brand awareness and promotes [sic] itself to the massive Asian market.
“We would appreciate it if you could indicate your interest in the partnership of the event by 17 January 2010.”
The letter is signed by Alex Soosay, AFC General Secretary.
It is marked for the attention of bidding committees from all countries vying for the right to host one or other tournament, plus Mexico which withdrew some time ago.
The timing of the AFC Annual Awards – to be held in Kuala Lumpur on November 24 within days of the race’s climax the following month – is likely to make bidders especially keen to sponsor the event.
However, news of the AFC’s move will probably also increase pressure on FIFA to take steps to ensure a level playing-field and prevent the contest to stage its most prestigious competition from degenerating into a series of mini-auctions.
It seems highly improbable that the International Olympic Committee (IOC), for example, would permit official events in the run-up to a decision on the host city of an Olympic Games to be opened up to exclusive sponsorship deals in this way.
While World Cup bidding nations cannot be blamed for striving to promote their candidacies by whatever means possible within the rules, the spectacle of confederations apparently racing to cash in on the unusual situation can hardly be good for FIFA’s image.
Australia, Belgium/Netherlands, England, Japan, Russia, Spain/Portugal and USA are bidding to stage the 2018 or 2022 World Cups, with, in addition, Indonesia, Qatar and South Korea bidding only for the 2022 tournament.
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