Thailand urged to upgrade facilities for Asian Cup finals

Asian soccer chiefs agreed on Tuesday to give Thailand three months to upgrade its facilities or face being dumped as a co-host for next year's Asian Cup finals.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) secretary-general Peter Velappan said he was confident the new military-backed Thai government would support the event.

"We appreciate there has been a change of government, we have to accept that," Velappan said, "Thailand must respect this deadline and set things in motion."

Thai new interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont pledged to give his full support to the tournament at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Thai soccer officials said.

Thailand is due to co-host the 2007 Asian Cup with Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia from July 7-29.

Source: Xinhua