Now that Australia has qualified for the World Cup via Asia, Football Federation Australia chief Frank Lowy is wasting no opportunities in trying to persuade continental members to back his bid to bring the marquee tournament back to the region in 2018 or 2022. Lowy, a billionaire businessman who has overseen the reinvigoration of the game Down Under, is promoting his bid's proximity to Asia and the region's "staggering" economic growth as key reasons for FIFA to grant the World Cup to Australia. "The world football pendulum is moving (this) way ... we are on the threshold of a historic and exciting era in which Asia will supercharge the growth of our game, not just here but around the world," Lowy said Tuesday. "Within this historical context sits Australia - a country with a largely European heritage but now very much part of the region of Asia. "But of all the integration with Asia, the most important in terms of Australia's bid to host the FIFA World Cup is that we are now part of the Asian Football Confederation and our football future, thankfully, is in lockstep with that of the whole region." Australia is competing with rival Asian bids from South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Qatar - with Qatar and South Korea bidding only for 2022. South Korea and Japan jointly hosted the 2002 World Cup, the first held in Asia. Lowy was also looking at competition from Europe and North America when he spoke at the International Football Arena conference in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, outlining the "immense commercial opportunity" for FIFA. England is a strong contender to win the rights for the 2018 World Cup, with other European contenders coming from Russia and in joint bids from Netherlands-Belgium and Spain-Portugal. The United States is bidding for both World Cups, and considered among the top candidates for 2022. FIFA's 24-man executive committee will decide the 2018 and 2022 hosts in December 2010. "Not only is Asia the center of the future of the world's economy, but it is also the center of the future of world football," Lowy said. "Asia is home to two-thirds of the world's population, and is expected to be four times the combined population of developed western economies by 2020." Lowy said he anticipated economic growth in the region over the next 20 years would be "staggering" and that football's governing body should act quickly to make the most of the opportunities. "A World Cup in the Asian region would secure the future of football in the region as well as give FIFA and its commercial partners the opportunity to generate maximum revenues," he said. "In the critical next 10 years or so we have a historic opportunity to entrench football as the mainstream sport in this fastest-growing region of the world." Lowy pointed to Australia's successful hosting of the Olympics - in Sydney in 2000 and Melbourne in 1956 - and other major events such as the rugby and cricket World Cups as evidence of it capability to stage the world's biggest single sport event. Australia switched from the Oceania confederation to Asia after its second-round exit to eventual champion Italy at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. A reversal of the decision to give Oceania a direct World Cup entry was behind the move. Australia secured a place at South Africa 2010 atop its Asian qualifying group. Oceania champion New Zealand also qualified by beating Bahrain - the fifth-place Asian team - in an intercontinental playoff.
