Oprah Winfrey might be in negotiations with Tiger Woods for his tell-all story, but the BPL has learned that the talk-show queen is also looking at a story much closer to home, involving a subject closer to all our hearts, footy.

The Peace Team, the combined Israeli-Palestinian team that competed in last year's AFL International Cup, has captured Oprah's attention and may feature on her show some time next year.

A function in Melbourne on Tuesday night celebrated the audacious but hugely successful achievement of bringing to Australia 26 players (13 from Israel and 13 from Palestine), most of whom, a year before the tournament had never heard of AFL footy, let alone played it.

It also served as the launching pad for bringing out the team for the next International Cup in 2011, which will cost a lazy half a million dollars. The AFL has already got the ball rolling in that respect with a pledge of $50,000.

Team organiser Tanya Oziel said that in addition to the interest from Oprah Winfrey, the team's incredible journey has been noticed in Hollywood, with movie studios also looking at the story.

Marc Radomsky's film about the team, Tackling Peace, is a finalist in the best documentary category at Saturday night's AFI Awards, but a Hollywood version of the story would take it to another stratosphere. "The Americans understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and recognise the major hurdles the team overcame to come to Australia," Oziel told the dinner.

In announcing the $50,000 pledge, the AFL's game development general manager David Matthews said that interest in staging the International Cup was now so high that Perth and the Gold Coast were now bidding against Melbourne for the 2011 event, which will be the fourth overall. He said that 16 teams took part in last year's event but that hopes were high for a 20-nation tournament next time around.

Robert Dipierdomenico, whose unbridled enthusiasm as coach was a hallmark of the Peace Team in 2008, could be joined by recently-retired Sydney star Michael O'Loughlin on the sidelines in 2011.

The Israeli-based Peres Centre for Peace, which oversaw the Peace Team, is hoping to bring O'Loughlin to the region next year to start preparing the team for its next visit.

More than 170 people attended the function, at the Melbourne office of Deloittes.