Very exciting time for Asian football — David Dein

DEAD SEA — It is a very exciting time for Asian football now and indeed for Jordan due to the great talent both the Kingdom and the continent have, a British football expert said on Monday. 

In an interview with The Jordan Times on the sidelines of the Soccerex Asian Forum, David Dein, former Arsenal and FA vice chairman and founding member of English Premier League (EPL), said with the huge Asia population it can have a lot of talent in years to come. 

“Over the last few weeks, I had chats with HRH Prince Ali who is very ambitious and loves football very much. He is passionate about the game and spoke about how Jordanian football can improve and Asian football is developing dramatically very quickly,” he said.

He noted that the future of Asia is very bright and it is a matter of time for an Asian country to progress significantly in the World Cup.

Dein took part in the first session titled “Establishing a League” on the second day of the forum. He  presented details about the successful elements of the EPL and how other leagues can benefit from its example. 

He stressed on the importance of having intense media coverage to expose the league and make it more successful. 

“The media coverage is immense in England and in newspapers everyday there are stories related to the league,” he said, adding that the EPL attracts two billion viewers from around the world.

He recalled that last season, a total of 1,052 goals were scored and average attendance was nearly 37,000 with about 96 per cent capacity.

He said during his session that if any country manages to make its league exciting and a best one, it can attract the interest of television and would result in commercial success that would enable people to get names on shirts and sell sponsorship for stadiums.

He told The Jordan Times that because of the excitement of the game, the stadiums are always full in England. 

“If you have an exciting product, people will come to watch it and that is what you are going to create and it really starts with better facilities and better coaches and then you raise the game,” he concluded.