28 January 2015
How big is the Asian Cup elsewhere in the world? We look at the data as well as anecdotes from around us
It’s interesting to read various reports and twitter commentary, from a distance, around crowds and television audiences for the Asian Cup and the Australian Open tennis.
The CEO of the Asian Cup Organising Committee, Michael Brown – who has every right to be very pleased with the tournament – has tweeted on a number of occasions about crowds and TV audiences, even engaging in a terse exchange with close contacts amongst cricket journalists earlier in the tournament.
Today, he tweeted about the massive cumulative TV audience for the Asian Cup in China and Korea, linking it to future tourist potential. Ker-ching! Such eye-wateringly pleasing figures are no surprise to anyone who has seen the data around global football events – indeed, it’s the ‘beautiful set of numbers’ that generally convinces governments to stump-up the financial backing to stage the event.
Soon after Michael’s tweet Dom Bossi reported that, at home while almost 1.1 million people tuned-in to see the Socceroos v UAE in the semi-final, 3.5 million people watched local teenager, Nick Kyrgios lose to Andy Murray in an Australian Open quarter-final.
This report by Ghazal Rezvan (written on Sunday) makes the point that the Asian Cup is the most successful yet, is set to surpass all records but, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, comparisons are odious as the tournament structures are different.
What has been noticeable from being in Europe for the past week is that, even amongst sport and football journalists, the Australian Open is more talked about than the Asian Cup. (There is also more interest in the African Cup of Nations than the Asian Cup).
Other than Australia, Japan and Korea, and Tim Cahill, Keisuke Honda and Ki Sung-Yueng - as well as Carlos Querioz and “that referee” - there is very little knowledge of Asian football. One well-known (non-English) football journalist said to me that the Asian Cup holds little interest in this part of the world in football terms because it’s seen as a ‘Mickey Mouse’ tournament despite the huge numbers watching it worldwide. He added that its status is not helped by the world rankings of Asian teams (however imperfect the ranking system may be) and the performance of Asian teams at the 2014 World Cup – although he did concede that we deserved to win against the Netherlands. 😊
It was a harsh assessment to hear. Even if it’s unfair, it is a message Asian football should listen to.
For the Asian Football Confederation, this year’s Asian Cup gives a great springboard for future growth and development of the tournament. For the the 46 member associations, there is plenty of scope to improve and prove such views wrong in 2018 and 2019.
As an Australian football fan, it will be great to be home for the Final on Saturday evening. #GoSocceroos.