Australia's 2015 Asian Cup LOC has announced that it "will join forces with A-League clubs to host Korean-themed events" at matches in '13-14 in a bid to promote the tournament, according to SOCCEREX. Five cities will "host games during the country’s staging of the Asian Cup, with Sydney’s 84,000-seat Stadium Australia set to stage the tournament final." Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Newcastle were also "awarded host city status" for the Asian Football Confederation’s "showpiece national team competition in March," and the tournament is set to be Australia’s first since it took the decision to join the AFC in '06. LOC CEO Michael Brown said that the 2015 Asian Cup had been awarded a $36,600 grant "from the Australia-Korea Foundation to increase Australia’s understanding of Korea -- a strategically important market for the tournament and the country as a whole." Brown: "The eyes of Asia will be on Australia in January 2015 and we as a country need to take advantage of that. Korea is Australia’s fourth largest trading partner and based on figures from previous tournaments we expect tens of millions of Koreans to tune in to the Asian Cup in 2015 and thousands more to travel here for the tournament" (SOCCEREX, 8/13).
