Michael Brown
The AFC Asian Cup is building strong ties between Australia and its Asian neighbours. Michael Brown talks about the common love of the world’s game.
Australia will be put under the floodlights in January when it hosts the Asian Football Confederation's Asian Cup. Employing more than 100 people across five major Australian cities, the AFC Asian Cup is a unique opportunity to showcase what Australia has to offer and to forge new ties across the Asian region.
With 25 years in sports event management, including 10 years as deputy CEO of Cricket Australia, Michael Brown, CEO of AFC Asian Cup Local Organising Committee, has played a pivotal role in shaping this exceptional event. "The Asian Cup was an event that was bid for by the Football Federation of Australia and we won the rights to it in 2009," explains Michael. "I was approached by Ben Buckley, who was the then CEO of FFA, who said I should come and have a chat with Frank Lowy about the Asian Cup. I said I wasn't that interested but Id come in anyway, mostly because I wanted to meet Frank Lowy."
"I went to his office, and over 20 minutes he kept saying, What are you scared of? What are you scared of? This is a great event, and it's a huge event for Australia. It's going to have 600 to 700 million people watching. Its going to be fantastic for our relationships with Asia. What are you scared of? And I remember asking my wife, What am I scared of? It's a three-and-a-half-year opportunity and we should think about it. Of course, it all spun from there."