Asian soccer boss Mohammed bin Hammam has called for a major restructuring of leagues and competitions after the region's abysmal showing in Germany.
Hammam, the president of the Asian Football Confederation, criticised Asia's poor competitive structure for the lack of success. All four teams - Japan, South Korea, Iran and Saudi Arabia - failed to make it to the second round.
'It is my belief this defeat is because of poor competition structures, particularly club competitions, both at national and confederation level,' said Hammam. 'We will not see any improvement at the international standard unless we restructure and improve the professionalism in our clubs and in our leagues.
'Our results in Germany, with the exception of Australia, have brought great disappointment to many Asian fans. Everyone was expecting our teams to do much better.'
Hammam, a Qatari, called for Asia's 46 countries to adopt a professional outlook if they hoped to avoid similar disappointments in the future.
'We need to professionalise all aspects of the game, including administration and management, to really create professional leagues comparable with those outside Asia. As the AFC president, this is my focus for our next stage of development. We can achieve this, and this should be Asia's future objective.'
