Soccer: NSL linked to an Asian competition

The Football Kingz have given cautious approval to an ambitious plan to rescue the impoverished NSL, which has a link to a proposed top Asia-wide competition.

Soccer Australia has a blueprint for a new league that could see clubs playing for as much as A$3 million ($3.35 million) in prizemoney, with the winners competing in an Asian Pacific Champions League, which is scheduled to begin in 2004.

The concept involves an overhaul of the existing league which has no television coverage, sponsor and flagging gates.

It is understood Qantas and one other company have shown interest in supporting the concept and it is believed talks have started with a United States-based company to back an eight-team Asian championship.

Kingz chief executive Chris Turner said yesterday that he was aware of a possible link to Asia but was not privy to the Soccer Australia plan.

"It's news to me, but of course we'll be interested.

"We're always interested in something that's going to be good for the game, but we really can't comment until Soccer Australia advise us, and we've heard nothing."

Under the plan, the NSL will consist of 14-16 teams, with each paying a A$350,000 affiliation fee, a third of which would go to player insurance.

A salary cap is also proposed, with no player earning more than A$100,000 for seasons that would run from October to April.

There would also be promotion and relegation for the first time in the NSL's 25-year history, with clubs from Australia's state leagues playing off for the right to face the team who finish last.

Clubs would play for at least A$1 million in prizemoney - A$500,000 of which would go to the winners of an abbreviated playoff between the top four teams.

The NSL champions would then qualify for the Asian championship, which would be staged over two weeks on a home-and-away basis, and carry prizemoney of US$1 million ($1.98 million), US$500,000 pocketed by the winners.

Clubs from Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, China, Malaysia, Thailand, the United States, Mexico, Chile and Peru have been approached to gauge interest.

The idea of an Asian championship is not new, having first been touted in the 1980s by the late Sam Papasavas, a former NSL chairman and co-founder of the competition.

The release of the plan comes less than two weeks after the Professional Footballers' Association revealed its idea for a 10-team invitation-only competition with a A$1.5 million entry fee and a host of new clubs, starting in 2004.

Turner said Soccer Australia's first priority should be to iron out a new television agreement. "TV is always the key."

- NZPA