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ASEAN Club Championship

Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2019 5:44 am
by blahblah
The AFF have announced an annual club championship to kick off next year featuring a club from each AFF member states, which includes Australia.

As we already have the ACL positions tied up with the Premiership and Championship, there remains the possibility that the Australian club chosen is the winner of the FFA Cup.

The details are not entirely clear, and it may well prove an expensive competition to participate in, however if it goes ahead then we may be having a few interesting games at Coopers in 2020.

Re: ASEAN Club Championship

Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2019 11:02 am
by Stuckey
Wow very exciting! I know they had planned on of this a while back and it fell over.
I think HAL sides would certainly be challenged by Thai clubs and Vietnamese football is on the rise as well. I think there is a massive amount of commercial opportunity in Singapore so playing there regularly could be great for business partnerships. Same goes for Malaysia to an extent.
I'd love something like this to help the sleeping giant of the region Indonesia to build on things.

Hopefully they aren't getting to ambitious on this too early and it's more of a knock out tournament to begin with, like the Mekong Cup. Beyond that in the future I'd love to see the AFC set up regional champions leagues as a more realistic version of the Europa League.

Beyond the promise of exposure in the region for business sponsorship. I think this could be a great opportunity for Australian players in the region. The Thailand league could be a financially rewarding league to play in and the league allows 3 ASEAN players beyond the AFC mandated 3+1 rule. This could be a good place for clubs to sell off under-valued HAL players, or come to agreements on loans and the HAL and T1 only over lap partly. I can think of a lot worse things to do over that HAL winter off season then maintain fitness and form with a club like Prachuap overlooking the Gulf of Thailand! 8)

Re: ASEAN Club Championship

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 9:00 pm
by Stuckey
The AFC confirms that it has received a proposal to organise the Asean Club Championship from the Asean Football Federation (AFF). While the AFC welcomes all efforts by the AFF to support the development of club football in the region, there are processes that need to be followed, especially in ensuring all outstanding issues are clarified before the approval.
https://www.the-afc.com/media/afc-state ... ampionship

Ah, that doesn't sound positive! It seems odd to announce that the tournament would be a path to the CWC. Surely the AFC would own full control of that path.

Re: ASEAN Club Championship

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 5:29 am
by blahblah
Yes, the entire CWC thing didn't make sense as it undermined the value of the ACL and AFC Cup. The AFF have n the past made bold pronouncements without conferring with those who actually control the game.

Re: ASEAN Club Championship

Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 7:55 am
by blahblah
Looks like it is going ahead and we either haven't been invited to the party or declined to attend. Quite possibly the latter given the costs involved for Australian clubs. It is a pity as I would have loved to have seen the NPL Champions get to play.

The competition appears to be in the champions league format.

Re: ASEAN Club Championship

Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2020 8:07 pm
by Stuckey
Very sad to hear we're not taking part. But not surprising.