October 19 - Sole bidder Australia will find out on January 6 whether it has won the right to host Asia’s premier football competition, the AFC Asian Cup 2015.
Even though it is the only contender, Australia is still required to adhere to the formal bidding process as designed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The decision will be made at a special AFC Executive Committee meeting, following the AFC Congress to be held in Doha, Qatar next year.
As part of the bidding process, Football Federation Australia (FFA) chairman Frank Lowy (pictured) and chief executive Ben Buckley handed over Australia’s 350-page bid book to AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam in July.
The FFA will deliver a final presentation and respond to subsequent questions from the AFC Executive Committee on January 6.
The Committee will then deliberate and announce the host of the AFC Asian Cup 2015.
“Australia has a good track record of hosting successful major events and we believe the AFC Asian Cup 2015 held in Australia would be beneficial to Australia and the entire Asian region,” said Buckley.
“Australia is a sports loving nation and without doubt this tournament would be welcomed by all Australians.
“Further to that, more than 27 per cent of Australia’s overseas-born population is from Asia and 24 per cent of Australia’s longstanding migrants who arrived before 2002 are Asian-born.”
Australia’s bid has the full support of the Federal Government as well as the Governments of Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria.
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