Speaking in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, on the eve of the Asian Cup 2007 final draw, the ex-China international defender backed the continent’s traditional powerhouses to shine in next year’s tournament, which will be co-hosted by Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

“Australia have a very strong team and of course, they have a great chance of winning the Asian Cup next year,” said Fan, the Asian Player of the Year in 2001.

“But as this is the first time that they are participating in Asian football’s flagship tournament so they may not be too familiar with playing the other teams in Asia.

“Therefore, I still think that teams like Iran, Korea and Saudi Arabia will be favourites to win next year.”

While Fan also expressed his hope that his country would do well in the 2007 competition, he felt that the calibre of the current team isn’t good enough to give China its first Asian Cup victory.

“As an ex-China national team player, of course I wish them all the best. However. I don’t think that China can reach the final as this is still a young team,” said the former Crystal Palace, Dundee and Cardiff City player.

“To be honest, I feel that the young players we have in China now are not as good as they were in my generation.

“My opinion is that after my generation retired, not many promising young players have come through so there is a gap between my generation and the players now.

“We have also had problems on the coaching and administration side so the condition of Chinese football is not very good at this moment.”

Fan will be assisting in the Asian Cup final draw at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, along with former Asian football stars Hidetoshi Nakata of Japan, Khodadad Azizi of Iran, Kim Joo-sung of Korea Republic and Mohesin Al Jamaan of Saudi Arabia.

The draw on Tuesday evening will see the 16 finalists placed in four groups of four for the 2007 finals, which will take place next July in South East Asia.

In addition to the four co-hosts, the other finalists are Bahrain, China, Iran, Iraq, Korea Republic, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, first-timers Australia and defending champions Japan.

The seedings for the draw are to be announced by the AFC on Tuesday morning.