Monday, June 25, 2012

Who will host?

The Spartak Stadium in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Dushanbe's Central Stadium in Tajikistan

The National Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh
The three stadiums under consideration to hold the 2012 AFC President's Cup final stage in September are in the country capitals of Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) and Dushanbe (Tajikistan).
The National Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh, home to Cambodia's champions Phnom Penh Crown, has a capacity of around 50,000. Cambodia is the only country of the three bidders, not to have hosted the final stages before. The stadium played a small part in the 1966 World Cup when North Korea faced Australia twice in qualifying, as Cambodia was deemed a suitable neutral location. The matches attracted 40,000 fans with North Korea winning both games. They went onto reach the quarter-finals.
The Spartak Stadium in Bishkek has a capacity of 23,000 and is home to Dordoi, the Kyrgyzstan champions. In 2008 the home team met Regar-TadAZ from Tajikistan in the AFC President's Cup final at the Spartak Stadium in front of 10,000 fans. The home team lost on penalties.
Tajikstan's capital city is Dushanbe, their champions are FC Istiklol and the capacity of their Central Stadium is 22,000. Tajikistan have hosted the AFC President's Cup final before, in 2009, in the city of Tursunzoda at the Mettalurg Stadium, as the home team were Regar-TadAZ. They again defeated Dordoi in the final 2-0 in front of 10,000 spectators. The AFC Competitions Committee will decide the hosts in July.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

does the other other venues have proper changing and shower rooms and also rooms? also if they have flood lights that is suitable for night games if so then i think they should host,,,,

ImKhmer said...

lol I thought our stadium was bad but look at their stadium. I am so confident that we're going to host the games :)

Andy Brouwer said...

Anon 1:48PM - you hit the nail on the head. The Olympic Stadium may have the bigger capacity but the facilities fall well short of acceptable levels by any stretch of the imagination.
The comparison with last year's finals in Taiwan for example are a million miles between them. Taiwan had world class facilities that would befit a World Cup not just the 3rd tier of Asian football cup competition. The Olympic Stadium facilities would look out of place on a Sunday morning football field in rural England. They are THAT bad.

ImKhmer said...

Well, even if they have a better changing rooms and shower rooms but that doesn't make them better than us. Look at the pitch, the seats, and the fields. It looks just like high school football fields. I bet they don't even have a VIP room nor a press room. If you look at the requirement, they also fail in a lot of areas.

ImKhmer said...

Andy, I think you're really good at talking down about Cambodia. I don't think our stadium is a million files away from Taiwan's, what so ever. The stadium is still in good condition. It just need a draing system for the field which I don't think it's cost that much, better light, better changing rooms, shower rooms, etc. It just need a remodify. 3-5 million USD should fix it all.

Andy Brouwer said...

ImKhmer...you got the wrong end of the stick. Taiwan hosted the finals last year, they are not one of the three wanting to host the finals this year. I can assure you that their ground was of a very very high standard and left the Olympic Stadium very much in the lower leagues of national stadia. As for the 3 stadiums wanting to host this years finals, I can only judge the Olympic Stadium (I've not seen the others) and I can assure you that in a professional era of stadiums, then we are lacking in MANY areas, as I have explained in a previous posting. If 5 million would solve the problems then so be it, I honestly don't know, but it would be interesting to know where that sort of money is coming from.

ImKhmer said...

Andy, I know Taiwan doesn't want to host the games this year but you were comparing our stadium to Taiwan's. As for the money, if the Cambodian's government isn't so corrupted then 5 million USD is nothing because Cambodia is rich in natural soils (oil, diamonds, gold, irons, etc.)

Andy Brouwer said...

ImKhmer,
believe me, the Taiwan stadium that hosted the AFC Cup Final last year is light years ahead of the Olympic Stadium. The difference is embarrassing to be honest. I'm not putting Cambodia down, just stating facts. I would love us to have such a stadium but we are a long way from achieving that. There are basic improvements that must be made to the Olympic Stadium, unless the idea is to run it down,sell the land and build a series of high storey buildings in its place. Nothing would surprise me.

Anonymous said...

ImKhmer,
have you ever been to any stadiums in the region? I would advise you to take a bus to thailand and visit some of their club stadiums.... any of them would have been better equip then the Olympic stadium....Do you know why Cambodia teams are not able to move from the President Cup to the 2nd tier of AFC competitions? You will need to have a stadium with proper changing rooms, proper lighting (the current flood lights will fail the AFC requirements as its not bright enough) among the requirement.
Your comment suggests that you are like a frog in a well...wait till you have travel and see the other stadiums before you claim that the current Olympic stadium is good enough to host a international match. And now you know why the Cambodia National Team doesnt play night games as with all the surrounding countries - cos their lighting will not get AFC approval... Even Laos have a better National stadium than Cambodia... such a disgrace for a country where football is the number 1 support sports...
cambodia football fan