A prince fights for ASEAN's football dream Fifa vice-president Prince Ali will back region's bid to host 2030 World Cup final

Source

SINGAPORE - In January, ASEAN first floated the idea of a joint bid to host the 2030 Fifa World Cup finals at their foreign ministers' summit in Indonesia.

The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) then revealed they would form a committee to study the viability of such a bid.

Now, ASEAN's desire to host the world's biggest sporting event is set to gain real momentum, with Fifa vice-president, Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan (picture), throwing his weight behind the effort.

Prince Ali flew into Singapore to watch Jordan beat the Lions 3-0 in an Asian Zone World Cup qualifier at Jalan Besar Stadium on Tuesday.

Speaking to Today after the match, he said: "We have to want to look at things, and I will take it to Fifa. Everything is possible ... it's all about means and capabilities."

Prince Ali, 35, is also the president of the Jordan Football Association and the West Asian Football Federation.

He stunned the football world in January when he beat South Korea's long-serving incumbent Chung Mong-Joon by 25 votes to 20 to become the youngest member of Fifa's executive committee. There are 24 members on Fifa's executive committee.

The number of countries involved in an ASEAN bid is considered a major hurdle, at least in terms of organisation and logistics, but the Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) experience with the 2007 Asian Cup illustrated the possibilities, with Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam jointly-hosting the finals, which was won by Iraq.

ASEAN is made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and Prince Ali said: "The question to ask is why not ASEAN? I will of course support Asia in every effort."

He will attend his first Fifa executive committee meeting as vice-president from Oct 20 to 21 in Zurich, where he will also speak on the memorandum of understanding signed by the Football Associations of Singapore and Malaysia.

Penned in July, the agreement will see a Singapore side compete in Malaysian domestic football competitions starting next year, with a Malaysian team going the other way.

"I spoke to Singapore and Malaysia officials and I will take this to Fifa, I think it's a good idea," he said.

The move effectively means there will be foreign teams playing in both domestic leagues, which will result in Singapore and Malaysia forgoing direct qualification into the AFC's premier regional competition, the AFC Champions League (ACL).

AFC rules stipulate that for direct entry into the ACL, the top league of any national association cannot feature a foreign team.

Singapore currently has two in the 12-team S-League - French side Etoile FC and Japan's Albirex Niigata - and withdrew its application for direct entry into the competition last October.

Prince Ali vowed to argue the case: "I will take that to the AFC, I think it's unfair. ACL qualification should be based on merit and ability. I will propose to discuss this."