2015 Asian Cup

[the crow]

well done the Matildas winning on penalties tonight to take out the womens aisian cup.

[Egan]

^ It was a great game...

If Australian women play the opening game at Olympic Stadion in Berlin, it could be the clincher in me heading to Germany.

[beastjim]

And just like that it's ours. East Coast affair confirmed as well.
Congratulations I guess (its hard to celebrate when you're the only one bidding).

[Jeffles]

It's still a win. Really looking forward to it. The cricket world cup will be on shortly after. A big few months of sport here.

[RobertHeatleyStand]

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/australi ... e-to-final
Sydney beats Melbourne to final
Melbournians might think they live in Australia's sporting capital but the city has missed out on hosting the Asian Cup final in 2015.

Had to laugh at the headline and first paragraph of this article. Cue insecure Victorians comments

Great response from our new premier though...

"I think we've got to understand that this is an Australian event, it's going to be good for Australian soccer," Mr Baillieu told reporters on Thursday.

"I don't think we're going to be ungracious about that, this is an Australian event, we'll play an important part of it."

It is an Australian event and the logical choices have been made in respect to available stadia providing, is Newcastle being used?

Would like to have seen Adelaide and Perth play a part and would love to hear from the FFA on why they were excluded. Were they even considered at all (logistics) or is it a case of local governments not coming to the party in regards to stadium upgrades etc.

[Orel Puppington]

Dump Docklands in exchange for another stadium in Melbourne or Victoria so all the venues are rectangular format. Or just have 4 venues.

Venues like Adelaide oval, The MCG and the SCG cannot be used due to the cricket world cup but they are bad for soccer in terms of viewing anyway.

[RobertHeatleyStand]

FACTS:
• Some 655 million viewers tuned in to the AFC Asian Cup 2007 (held in Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia) with 748 million viewing the 2004 edition (held in China)
• There was a 434 per cent growth in broadcast coverage hours between 2004 (902 hours) and 2007 (3916 hours)
• Domestically, 2.5 million viewers tuned into Fox Sports over the 160 hours of the AFC Asian Cup 2007 telecast
• The Australia v Japan quarter-final broke Pay Television records with an average audience of 419,000 throughout the match
• FFA has undertaken extensive government liaison coordinated through the Football World Cup Bid Government Taskforce (established for both the 2022 FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup 2015 Bids)
• 32 matches (24 group stage / 8 knockout) will be played across four (4) States and Territories (QLD, NSW, VIC, ACT) during the 23 day long tournament, currently scheduled for January 2015
• A number of ancillary events will also be conducted in Australia including the Preliminary Draw, Final Draw, Opening and Closing Ceremonies and Team Workshops
• The eight (8) Stadiums proposed in the Bid Book include Suncorp Stadium, Skilled Park, ANZ Stadium, Sydney Football Stadium, Parramatta Stadium, Canberra Stadium, Etihad Stadium and AAMI Park

• AFC requires a minimum of four (4) and a maximum of five (5) Stadiums and in conjunction with FFA will undertake a Stadium selection process following the announcement of the Host Country
• More than 27 per cent of Australia’s overseas-born population is from Asia and 24 per cent of Australia’s longstanding (arrived before 2002) migrants are Asian-born.
• Sixteen teams from the 46 member associations of the Asian Football Confederation will participate.

So, which stadiums will make the cut?

Final - Sydney
Opening - Melbourne
Qtr finals - ???
Semi finals - ???

[Boba Fett]

Logically you would have to think ANZ Stadium for the final, Etihad Stadium for the opener, Suncorp Stadium and SFS for the semis and maybe add AAMI Park as the 5th stadium.

[bazza]

Logically you would have to think ANZ Stadium for the final, Etihad Stadium for the opener, Suncorp Stadium and SFS for the semis and maybe add AAMI Park as the 5th stadium.

Sounds fair - all games in Sydney and Melbourne that aren't finals/opening games/Australia games at AAMI and SFS - big games at Etihad and ANZ
That would mean there would only be games in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane

[RobertHeatleyStand]

Word is that Melbourne will host 6/32 games including the opener.

If that's the case then I can't see two stadiums in Melbourne which means Etihad will be our stadium for the tournament. No AAMI Park

ANZ - Final + group games
SFS - Group + Qtr + possible semi or 3rd playoff
Etihad - Opener + Group + Qtr + possible Semi or 3rd playoff
Suncorp - Group + Qtr + possible semi or 3rd playoff

We should take up the maximum of FIVE venues which means there will be one more ... each venue hosting six games, presumably.

[timmers]

Parra, AAMI, Canberra are a good size for Asian Cup lower drawing games.

Its a pity we are limited to 5 stadiums, it would have been really nice to share them round a bit more. Gold Coast, Newcastle would have been good places and maybe even Bluetongue/Wollongong etc.

I'm going to hope that Melbourne gets more than 6 games so they can use AAMI.

Opener + 6: T Dome
Final + 6: Homebush
6: AAMI Park
6: Suncorp
6: SFS

[cam]

6 games at ANZ? That 80,000 venue in Sydney's outer-west? Seriously what crowds are we expecting for games not involving the Socceroos and the final? Especially in a city where their domestic team struggles to attract over 7,000 to games. They'll turn up to the 'event' games like the final and hopefully the Socceroos games, but i'd say any other game ANZ will be far less than half full. Play the majority at the SFS or North Sydney Oval. On a serious note, the final was always going to be in Sydney, with FFA's form. In any case, it's all about the opening game.

[timmers]

No doubt it will be half empty (hence why I suggested smaller grounds being better!!!), but I'm assuming (rightly or wrongly) that there will be an even split of games across the selected stadiums.

[the crow]

6 games at ANZ? That 80,000 venue in Sydney's outer-west? Seriously what crowds are we expecting for games not involving the Socceroos and the final? Especially in a city where their domestic team struggles to attract over 7,000 to games. They'll turn up to the 'event' games like the final and hopefully the Socceroos games, but i'd say any other game ANZ will be far less than half full. Play the majority at the SFS or North Sydney Oval. On a serious note, the final was always going to be in Sydney, with FFA's form. In any case, it's all about the opening game.

That's why Smaller venues like Parramatta, Bruce AAMI Park and Robina stadiums were selected

[beastjim]

6 games at ANZ? That 80,000 venue in Sydney's outer-west? Seriously what crowds are we expecting for games not involving the Socceroos and the final? Especially in a city where their domestic team struggles to attract over 7,000 to games. They'll turn up to the 'event' games like the final and hopefully the Socceroos games, but i'd say any other game ANZ will be far less than half full. Play the majority at the SFS or North Sydney Oval. On a serious note, the final was always going to be in Sydney, with FFA's form. In any case, it's all about the opening game.

That's why Smaller venues like Parramatta, Bruce AAMI Park and Robina stadiums were selected

But they are the logical 3 to be cut from the list as we are apparently only allowed to have 5 stadiums. So if we cut say SFS which would one would still make the cut?