Information from the Thai press said that the Australian national team can attend the Southeast Asia Championship (AFF Cup) in 2020, the tournament in which the Vietnamese team is the current champion. If Australia attends, the AFF Cup will certainly be much more attractive.
Statements about this offer:
In an article on the major goals of Thai football in 2020, Thailand’s leading sports daily, Siam Sport, informed of the possibility of the Australian national team attending the AFF Cup later this year.
Siam Sport wrote: “The AFF Cup 2020 is still waiting for a definite time and place. However, one of the expected possibilities of the tournament is that Australia will attend, as heavyweight championship candidates. ”
Since Australia has withdrawn from the Oceania Football Federation to become a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), AFC has assigned Australia to the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF), because in terms of Geographically, Australia is closest to Southeast Asia, compared to other regions in Asia.
What forces leading to this surprising news:
Currently, the Australian Football Confederation is a full member of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF). They have a full representation of regional youth leagues, both male and female. They have not sent their national team to the Southeast Asian men’s and women’s football championships (AFF Cup), because their national team is too strong, too different from the regional men’s and women’s teams.
However, in recent years, Southeast Asian teams have competed and achieved much success. In the 2019 Asian Cup in the UAE, the AFF Cup champion of 2018 Vietnam Tel reached the quarter-finals, while Thailand also won the right to go to the eighth round with the second place. Meanwhile, as the champion of the tournament, Australia was suddenly defeated in the quarterfinals before the hosts UAE.
Seeing that the force relationship has changed, the Australian Football Federation is seriously expressing its desire to attend the AFF Cup 2020 to have the opportunity to clash with Southeast Asian teams such as Vietnam, Philippines or Thailand, especially when the Australian national team is in the process of transferring forces.
Therefore, the ability of Australia to attend the South East Asia football championship in 2020 is the ability to be discussed.
If this becomes a reality, the goal of defending the AFF Cup championship of the Vietnamese team this year will be more difficult, but the Southeast Asian Championship will be more attractive, attracting better audiences ( along with financial growth), thanks to the presence of one of the strongest teams in Asia, with many stars playing football in Europe, such as Australia.
Format of the tournament:
According to the initial information, the format of the AFF Cup 2020 will be similar to that of the AFF Cup 2018, the teams will be divided into 2 tables, kicking a circle in a round in the group stage, with home and opponent matches determined. via random lottery. The final round of the AFF Cup 2020 will take place on the last days of the year.
Mr. David Gallop – President of the Australian Football Federation recently spoke out about the country’s ability to compete in the arena of Southeast Asia: “In the development with our relationship with Southeast Asia, we are looking back at the AFF Suzuki Cup – the tournament we used to think was too strong compared to other teams, we realized that many Southeast Asian teams have improved their strength and this place can become one of the important market with Australia, so this tournament is definitely worth exploring”
The prospect is promising
The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper announced that the federation dialogue between Australia and Southeast Asian countries has been conducted. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade also strongly supports the idea of the Australian Football Federation. A number of details are being discussed, including balancing the AFF Cup schedule with the Australian A-League.
