Malaysia Prime Minister supports Man Utd tour
The Prime Minister of Malaysia has given his support to Manchester United's summer tour of the country.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohammed bin Hammam has called for United to cancel the tour because it clashes with the Asian Cup.
But PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said: "This is what the government wants. All Malaysians will enjoy the Manchester United game.
"I don't think we should reject this tour. I hope the AFC understand this."
United's tour starts in Tokyo on 17 July and takes in Seoul and Macau before finishing in Malaysia on 27 July.
Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand are co-hosting the Asian Cup, the quadrennial continental championship, which runs from 7-29 July and features 16 national teams.
And Hammam said: "We welcome visits from advanced leagues - they have tremendous experience where we can gain from them.
"But what we don't need is competition with us in the same market when we thought we did our part of the game."
Hammam is particularly aggrieved as the confederation chose not to play the competition in January - one of two windows in the global calendar offered to the AFC by Fifa - so as not to take players away from their clubs during the European season.
"They shouldn't be coming in July," added Hammam. "They are welcome in June, they are welcome in August, they are welcome in January or February but not in July.
"We played according to the rules of football.
"We did not organise our competition in March, April or February when their league is very busy and there are some players from Asia playing in those leagues.
Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/6632511.stm
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We still waiting for u to come our world ... ! Mu Rox
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohammed bin Hammam has called for United to cancel the tour because it clashes with the Asian Cup.
But PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said: "This is what the government wants. All Malaysians will enjoy the Manchester United game.
"I don't think we should reject this tour. I hope the AFC understand this."
United's tour starts in Tokyo on 17 July and takes in Seoul and Macau before finishing in Malaysia on 27 July.
Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand are co-hosting the Asian Cup, the quadrennial continental championship, which runs from 7-29 July and features 16 national teams.
And Hammam said: "We welcome visits from advanced leagues - they have tremendous experience where we can gain from them.
"But what we don't need is competition with us in the same market when we thought we did our part of the game."
Hammam is particularly aggrieved as the confederation chose not to play the competition in January - one of two windows in the global calendar offered to the AFC by Fifa - so as not to take players away from their clubs during the European season.
"They shouldn't be coming in July," added Hammam. "They are welcome in June, they are welcome in August, they are welcome in January or February but not in July.
"We played according to the rules of football.
"We did not organise our competition in March, April or February when their league is very busy and there are some players from Asia playing in those leagues.
Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/6632511.stm
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We still waiting for u to come our world ... ! Mu Rox
posted by eSeong at 4:09 AM
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