"The executive committee has decided that the 2011 Asian Cup will be hosted in Qatar," said bin Hammam, himself a Qatari, who said the organisers gave an "outstanding presentation".

The gas-rich Gulf state was the only country in the running after India and Iran pulled out last month.

The tournament will be held in January with the only other official FIFA window available, in July, too hot in the Gulf region, meaning European-based players will be asked to leave their clubs mid-season for three weeks to take part.

But bin Hammam doesn't see any club versus country conflicts given January is a designated FIFA time to hold such competitions.

"July is the hot season in Qatar and the organisation of the tournament cannot happen then so it will be January and we are protected by the international calendar," he said.

Qatar, which successfully held the Asian Games in Doha last December, has played host to the Asian Cup in 1988 when it was won by Saudi Arabia.

A key concern is whether the small country can drum up enough fans to fill stadia after the Asian Games experience where most grounds were empty.

Bin Hammam said it was an area that will have AFC focus.

"Yes, it is a concern but Qatar, although small, is surrounded by its neighbours from the Gulf where there is a huge population," he said.

"To reach Doha is not a problem. You can reach it by road, there are hundreds of flights every day.

"It is a concern but we will work hard to overcome it."

The current tournament co-hosted by Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam presented the AFC with a host of logistical and infrastructure-related problems, but Bin Hammam is not expecting the same issues to arise in Qatar.

"I will promise you now that the Asian Cup in the future will be different to what you have seen in the past, in terms of organisation, popularity and standards," he said.

"This is my promise to you because this is what I am devoting my time to and what I have been elected to do.

"This tournament ... we have spent a lot of time and efforts on infrastructure problems in the venues. We have not given enough attention to the promotion of the competition which is very important.

"Qatar's infrastructure is already excellent so I don't think we will have any problems there. We are only going to focus on how to promote the competition and how to make the organisation more professional."

Despite early problems of co-hosting a tournament in four countries, bin Hammam said the Asian Cup 2007 had been a big success, with record television audiences and unprecedented media attention.

"We have had more media coverage in and outside of Asia than ever before -- perhaps three or four times more than before," he said.

"We achieved an average of 22,500 spectators at each match up to the quarterfinals and we have evidence from analysis that we attracted over more than one billion viewers in China, Australia, Japan, Korea and countries like that."