Australia to benefit from AFC Asian Cup legacy plan

Millions of dollars worth of improvements to football pitches, stadiums and facilities around Australia will be among the most visible benefits of Australia hosting the AFC Asian Cup for the first time.

The infrastructure upgrades, outlined in advance of the January's competition, Australia's biggest ever football event, include:

• Covered team benches worth around $400,000, to be used for the first time at the January 9-31 tournament and then bequeathed to the 10 A-League clubs;
• Lighting upgrades worth $400,000 at Asian Cup training facilities including Perry Park in Queensland and Canberra's Deakin Stadium and McKellar Park;
• Turf improvements worth $275,000 at those three venues, as well as at SS Anderson Oval in Melbourne and Wanderers Oval in Newcastle; and
• A complete pitch upgrade at Newcastle Stadium worth $1.25 million including a $150,000 contribution from the Asian Cup Local Organising Committee.

Australia's hosting of Asia's premier football tournament has also helped unlock government funding for development of:
• Ballarat's Eureka Stadium, worth $15 million; and
• Speers Point Park, the home of Northern NSW football, worth $11.3 million.

The benefits of hosting the Asian Cup will be seen for years to come in classrooms as well as on playing fields, thanks to the Asian Cup education resource.

The free online service is already helping more than 54,000 primary students at more than 380 schools to learn about Asia. The program will be used by FFA as an ongoing resource after 2015.

The Asian Cup has also helped Football Federation Australia hit its target of 100,000 A-League and W-League club memberships by 2015, and contributed to the game’s annual participation growth rate of three per cent.

It has also produced a football diplomacy forum to coordinate government activities through football, including the international efforts of Tourism Australia and Austrade.

The tournament has also been an important social bridge-builder, with participation in more than 100 Asian-Australian community events and the appointment of more than 200 ambassadors throughout Australia's multicultural communities.

Organising Committee Chief Executive Michael Brown explains "the benefits of hosting the Asian Cup are a significant part of football's breath-taking ascent in Australian sport, but go far beyond that into the whole Australian community."

"They will be felt well into the future at football stadiums, training pitches, in classrooms as well as boardrooms, and at government level.

"They show that hosting this tournament on behalf of Asia's 4.3 billion people is not just about football - it is a massive exercise in nation-building."

Asian Cup Director and Legacy Sub-Committee Chairperson Cheryl Bart said the benefits of hosting the Asian Cup would be evident in Australia long after the final ball is kicked, adding “the LOC has had a strong focus on legacy since day one and I am proud of the work that we have done to ensure there would be lasting and meaningful benefits."

The AFC Asian Cup is Asia’s biggest football competition and was established in 1956.

The 16 nations to qualify for AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 are Australia as hosts, defending champions Japan, Korea Republic and 2012 AFC Challenge Cup winners DPR Korea, along with Bahrain, China, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Palestine

The 16 finalists will take part in a 23-day festival of football in five cities which the Socceroos will kick off against Kuwait on January 9, 2015, in Melbourne, with the final set for Sydney’s Stadium Australia on January 31, 2015.

The tournament is being financially supported by the Australian Government and the NSW, Victorian, Queensland and ACT Governments.

Fox Sports will broadcast the AFC Asian Cup throughout Australia while the ABC is the official AFC Asian Cup free-to-air broadcaster.

Tickets for AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 are on sale now.

For more information on AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 visit www.afcasiancup.com

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