The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Professional Football Task Force outlined its ambitions towards establishing a sustainable blueprint aimed at elevating the professional standards of Asian club football at its first meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. Led by Chairperson and former Korea Republic captain Park Ji-sung, the Task Force further emphasised the Confederation’s resolve, as underlined in its Vision and Mission, to ensure the continuous success of Asian teams on the world stage. In light of the revamped three-tiered club competitions system which will take effect from the 2024/25 season, the Task Force reviewed the amendments suggested to the 2023 edition of the AFC Club Licensing Regulations. The Task Force was also briefed on the organisational structure of the Professional Football Department which has undergone significant enhancement in order to facilitate the introduction of new programmes to better assist Club Licensing administration in the Confederation’s Member Associations (MAs), thereby supporting the further development of Asian clubs. Additionally, besides sharing updates and trends pertaining to the activities conducted during the AFC Club Licensing Cycle of 2022-2023, a constructive dialogue was centred around charting the way forward for the gradual transformation of the Task Force to operate as a Committee in the near future. Yet another major highlight of the meeting was the discussion on the possibility of introducing a Homegrown Players Policy, the focus of which would be the long-term success of the Confederation’s MAs through the development of domestic youth players and establishment of a sustainable revenue model of clubs in Asia. “The success of our teams across our Member Associations is testament to the progress we have made in Asian football. As mentioned in the AFC’s Vision and Mission, our goal is to be a model Confederation and with the establishment of this Task Force, I am confident that we are on the right track,” said Park Ji-sung. “But to truly excel and bring Asian leagues up to the standards of the top leagues in the world, we now need to lay special emphasis on developing domestic youth players,” he added. All decisions made by the Task Force must now be ratified by the AFC Executive Committee before being introduced.
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