Chelsea Extend Partnership with Asian Football Confederation

Current English Premier League soccer champions Chelsea has renewed its partnership with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and in turn, find its commitment to developing football in the continent.

The initial agreement which saw the London club work alongside the AFC on grassroots projects has been extended through to 2015, medicine with a specific focus of the partnership on the development of football in China, one of the biggest AFC Vision Asia projects, but including the scope to look to other initiatives.

AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam, who is expected to confirm his candidacy for the FIFA presidential elections on Friday, stated: “This is a great chance for a club to work with a football confederation to develop football.

“Since the first contract was signed four years ago, we have developed our football a lot and overcome some of the challenges in improving the grassroots level of football. Currently 38 cities are part of the Vision Asia development programme and the snowball is still rolling,” he added

Chelsea CEO Ron Gourlay added: “Since Chelsea and AFC signed the first agreement in 2007, it’s been an exciting time for us at the club to have the chance to work with a confederation to develop football, especially in China. We believe the game is getting stronger in Asia and we are happy to be a part of it by spreading our wings to Asia.”