A-League To Address Lack Of Asian Players, Consider Asian-Only Football Visa Proposal

The "lack of Asian players in the A-League could lead to the introduction of a designated Asian-only football visa," according to Sebastian Hassett of THE AGE. Of the 44 overseas players in the competition, "only one -- Western Sydney Wanderers marquee Shinji Ono -- comes from Asia." Talk about a "designated Asian spot has bubbled away for some time and has even been discussed by the governing body before, only for the discussions to go nowhere." But FFA CEO David Gallop, who "returned from the annual Asian Football Confederation meeting in Oman on Sunday night, believes it's time the league converted one of the five foreign spots for each A-League club into an Asian position" (THE AGE, 1/28).