December 20, 2006	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 28, 1427

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LAHORE, Dec 19: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has rejected a request of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) to allow it, the marketing rights of the AFC President Cup to be held at Punjab Stadium in April next year.

The PFF was interested in generating money through billboards in the stadium against which it was willing to bear the accommodation expenses of the eight participating clubs of different Asian countries.

However, the AFC inspection team, which had recently come to Lahore to inspect the facilities for the tournament, did not agree to the request, saying according to the rules and regulations, the Asian body will bear all expenditure and will also generate money through sponsorship.

The AFC also made it categorically clear to the PFF if the host country received any revenue through billboards, the Asian body would claim 80 per cent of that amount while only 20 per cent would go to PFF.

The AFC allocated the event to Pakistan for the first time in which the top club one each of Nepal, Tajikistan, Taiwan, Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Taiwan, and Pakistan will take part.

The AFC will present US $ 50,000 to the winners and US$ 25,000 to the losers.