Lowy: Asia is the future
24/11/2009 8:57 PM
Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy believes FIFA would secure 'maximum revenue' if it was to award the World Cup to an Asian country in either 2018 or 2022.
Lowy has long championed the cause for the prestigious tournament to be held in Australia, while the likes of South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Qatar have all expressed a desire to host the event.
Asia faces competition from Europe and North America but Lowy believes the region's rapid economic growth makes it an ideal candidate.
"Not only is Asia the centre of the future of the world's economy, but it is also the centre of the future of world football," Lowy said at a Football Arena conference in Malaysia.
"Asia is home to two thirds of the world's population and is expected to be four times the combined population of developed western economies by 2020."
"A World Cup in the Asian region would secure the future of football in the region, as well as give FIFA and its commercial partners the opportunity to generate maximum revenues."
"In the critical next 10 years or so we have an historic opportunity to entrench football as the mainstream sport in this fastest-growing region of the world."
FIFA will announce the 2018 and 2022 hosts in December next year.