Asian Champions League: Australia
Paul Williams
How is it that after almost 12 years, A-League clubs still haven't figured out how to leverage their participation in the AFC Champions League?
Once again this week the outspoken Adelaide United chairman Greg Griffin has questioned his club's participation, recounting a phone conversation with a Brisbane Roar official asking the question: "why do we bother?"
I mean, seriously? After 12 years we're still viewing the ACL as a burden rather than an opportunity, even after Western Sydney Wanderers' historic triumph in 2014?
At a time when businesses are desperate to expand their footprint into Asia, particularly China, it seems incredible that A-League clubs would even countenance doing the opposite and yet A-League clubs questioning the merits of the AFC Champions League has become almost an annual event.
Rather than looking to deflect blame, maybe they need to look closer to home.
Here in Adelaide you can't go a week without a seeing mention of Port Adelaide's upcoming AFL match against the Gold Coast in Shanghai. China has become the buzzword in AFL circles in this state in the last 12 months.
Both AFL clubs have managed to turn that into multi-million dollar sponsorship deals with Chinese companies; Port Adelaide with property developer Shanghai Cred and the Adelaide Crows with China Southern Airlines.
And this for a sport that has next to zero visibility in China, or anywhere in Asia for that matter.
How is it that Adelaide United, the club with more experience playing in Asia than any other A-League club, hasn't figured out a way to leverage their regular participation in the ACL into more lucrative sponsorships and partnerships in Asia, yet the two AFL clubs have off the back of just one game?
That's not to say Griffin doesn't have a valid complaint when it comes to the allocation of prize money for the tournament. Undoubtedly there should be more prize money on offer, and AFC need to find ways to make the ACL more attractive for sponsors and broadcasters, so as the value of those deals increases, allowing for greater prize money to be distributed.
The AFC did, however, increase prize money just last year, so the winner now receives AUD $4m for winning the final, plus whatever prize money they've earned along the way. So steps are being taken in the right direction, and the hope is with a new rights deal in the next few years that more money will be made available.
But playing in the Champions League, whether that's in Asia or Europe, or the Copa Libertadores in South America, should be about more than just making money.
It's about prestige and honour; it's representing your league and nation against the best on the continent. To make it solely about money misses the point completely. It's an important factor, but it should be about more than that.
Sadly, however, it seems it's not just the clubs who aren't buying in, the fans aren't either. Maybe those two are linked. Attendances for the three A-League teams this year are, if we're brutally honest, pathetic. This isn't just an issue in Australia, however. Attracting fans is an issue across a lot of Asia when it comes to the ACL, with the exception of a handful of countries.
Rather than waiting for the fans to come to it, maybe it's time for the AFC to consider taking the ACL to fans who want it - specifically those in Southeast Asia.
Few areas in Asia are as passionate about football as Southeast Asia, and if we're honest the ACL could do with a touch of passion in the stands, rather than matches played in front of vastly empty stadiums.
We saw again another full stadium and terrific atmosphere in Thailand on Wednesday night when Brisbane Roar travelled to take on Muangthong United, while clubs like fellow Thai side Buriram United, JDT in Malaysia and Indonesian sides Persipura Jayapura and Persib Bandung have shown they can attract big crowds for continental football.
These clubs, for the most part, are limited to playing in the second tier AFC Cup but are desperate to step up and play in the continental showpiece that is the AFC Champions League, imagine what crowds they could attract against some of Asia's biggest teams?
If Australian clubs don't want to participate in the ACL, maybe it's time to re-evaluate the allocation of slots and look at giving more places to the countries that do, in the process creating a greater diversity of teams and opening up the tournament to tens of millions of new fans; fans that truly want to see their team in continental action.
Can we say the same about fans, and clubs, in Australia?
Australian A-League Heat Policy
Copyright: Paul Williams & Soccerphile.com
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