The 2018 AFF Championship will be the 12th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of nations affiliated to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), and the 6th under the name AFF Suzuki Cup.[1]
The final tournament will run from 8 November to 15 December 2018.[2]
In March 2016, it was reported that the AFF was mulling over changes to the tournament format due to the failure to attract big crowds for matches not involving the host nation.[3] It was then confirmed by the AFF that starting with the 2018 edition, a new format would be applied. The nine highest ranked teams would automatically qualify with the 10th and 11th ranked teams playing in a two-legged qualifier. The 10 teams would be split in two groups of five and play a round robin system with each team playing two home and two away fixtures. A draw will be made to determine where the teams play while the format of the knockout round would remain unchanged.[4]
Nine teams are automatically qualified in the AFF Championship final tournament. Based on the 2016 AFF Championship ranking, Brunei and Timor Leste played in a home and away play offs which will be conducted on 1 and 8 September 2018 with the latter securing qualification.[5]Australia, a member since 2013, did not enter the tournament.[2]
The draw for the tournament was held on 2 May 2018[6] at Hotel Mulia in Jakarta, Indonesia[7][8] with the pot placements followed each teams progress in the previous two editions.[9]
There are one venue for each participating countries in the tournament with each countries get two group matches played in their home stadium. Before the tournament being held, both the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) and Myanmar Football Federation (MFF) have requesting AFF to allow their two home matches to be held in two different stadiums in different cities.[11][12] The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) also asking AFF to move their last group match against Cambodia to Hàng Đẫy Stadium as the match date is coincides with the opening ceremony of the Vietnam National Games that will be held in Mỹ Đình National Stadium by which the request was accepted through the AFF meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on 13 September.[13][14] East Timor will play their designated "home" match against Thailand at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, while their home tie against the Philippines will be played at the Kuala Lumpur Stadium in Malaysia due to the incomplete floodlighting of the Dili Municipal Stadium.[15]
New tournament visuals, including a logo, for the AFF Championship was unveiled for the 2018 edition during the official draw held on 2 May 2018. The ASEAN Football Federation cooperated with Lagardère Sports for the tournament's branding. Five attributes were identified that are "synonymous" to the tournament. Elements combined to form the logo are a beating heart, a goalpost and raised hands by a fan that is meant to signify "pride, loyalty, football, rivalry, and passion".[16]
In addition a colour scheme was developed for the branding. The colours devised are magenta (passion and energy), cyan (fresh beginning), green (vibrancy of a football pitch) and blue (topography of the region).[16]
Media coverage
2018 AFF Championship television broadcasters in Southeast Asia
1 2 3 "Vietnam Television earns broadcast rights for AFF Suzuki Cup 2018". Nhân Dân. Vietnam Net. 3 September 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2018. Lagardère Sports, the official football supplier of the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup, agreed to sell the broadcast rights to VTV, Lao National Television (TV Lao) and the Radio Television Brunei (RTB).
