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NEWS & EVENTS
AFF inches closer to ASEAN Super League
Sunday, December 22, 2013

Brunei Darussalam National Football Association President HRH Prince Hj Sufri Bolkiah (L) and Asean Football Federation President HRH Sultan Ahmad Shah sharing a light moment after the 10th AFF Council meeting yesterday. BT/ Jason Thomas



Brunei Darussalam National Football Association president HRH Prince Hj Sufri Bolkiah (bottom row, 4th right) posing for a picture with AFF president HRH Sultan Ahmad Shah (C) and other participants of the 10th AFF Council meeting yesterday. Infofoto


The ASEAN Football Federation has gone one step further in realising the goal of a regional club competition after its council yesterday called for more work to be done in preparing for the ASEAN Super League.

AFF confirmed that the 16-team league will kick off in 2015 during the AFF Awards Night in April, and during yesterday's Council meeting here, reaffirmed its commitment to hosting the inaugural league.

"All the countries have given their support and we are now looking at preparation and planning details," AFF President HRH Sultan Ahmad Shah told the media after yesterday's 10th Council meeting.

Also present during yesterday's meeting was National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam President HRH Prince Hj Sufri Bolkiah.

It is understood that each country can send two teams to the ASL, with the competition to be held on a franchise basis.

The AFF has asked commercial partners World Sport Group to provide more details in terms of sponsorship.

WSG will also spend more time looking at the mechanisms of the league and will go from country to country discussing that and the commercial rights, with the marketing agency set to present updates during the next AFF Council meeting in Medan, Indonesia, in March.

According to the AFF website, the AFF Council have also decided to organise an Asean All-Stars charity football match to help raise funds in the wake of the Typhoon Haiyan which struck the Philippines recently.

The match, which will likely be between the Asean All-Stars team and the Philippines national team, will be held in the city of Bacolod in the Philippines at a date to be confirmed.

The AFF Council also decided on the host venues and tentative dates for four AFF events next year.

It was decided that Laos will host the 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup qualifiers which is tentatively set for Oct 13-19.

The 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup will be co-hosted by Myanmar and the Philippines, with the qualifiers set to be played in Cambodia.

It was also decided that the AFF Under-16 Preparatory Tournament is to be held in Indonesia in September 2014 while the AFF Women's Championship will be held in Thailand in August 2014.

The AFF Futsal Championship will be held in Malaysia from Sept 17-28 while the host for the AFF Under-19 Preparatory Tournament will be decided later.

The AFF Council also congratulated Myanmar Football Federation (MFF) President, U Zaw Zaw, and the MFF officials for their excellent management of the SEA Games football competition - which includes the men's and women's football tournaments and men's and women's futsal tournaments.

Thailand won all four tournaments, last night's 1-0 win over Indonesia in the men's football final is the icing on the cake.

Courtesy from Brunei Times