Canberra A-League Bid Partners With Hong Kong Football Club

The Canberra A-League bid "added an Asian powerhouse" to its campaign for a license, "firing another reminder to officials about the strength of the capital's proposal," according to the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Hong Kong Premier League side Hong Kong Football Club Dir of Operations Tony Sealy joined the Canberra bid team's advisory board and said that a team in the city "would be of high interest to Chinese businesses." Sealy: "If you look at what China are doing, they have a brief to grow football. I run one of the biggest, if not the biggest, sports club in Southeast Asia. I have been involved in Asian football for 25 years now and know how to open the right doors for a project like this." The Canberra bid has secured A$1.2M ($850,000) in funding from the ACT government and is waiting for Football Federation Australia to assess nine options for two expansion licenses. FFA will make a decision by Oct. 31, "however that could be delayed by an ongoing boardroom war" (SMH, 9/11).