ASEAN Club Championship shifted to 2022

With the international and regional calendar taking place in 2021, including World Cup Qualifiers, AFC competitions, SEA Games 31, and AFF Cup, it will be a busy year for ASEAN countries. In addition, clubs and players also have domestic tournaments to complete next year, which will give them limited time for taking part in other events.

"Several countries will have additional local issues to contend with, which may add further to calendar congestion. With all this in mind, together with the overall uncertainty that still remains over any dates in 2021, we have decided with our partners to move the launch of ACC to 2022," AFF President Major General Khiev Sameth said.

A further update on the ACC will be provided after all schedules of international, regional and domestic tournaments in 2021 are confirmed. AFF will also unveil the ACC logo and trophy in due course.

"ACC is a key pillar of our regional development strategy, and we’ve agreed that a move to 2022 is the right decision at this stage. As we begin to regroup, it became clear that having to launch ACC in a much-reduced format, within what we know will be a heavily congested season, would not be in the best interests of the event or our members," AFF wrote.

Organized by AFF, the ACC is a lucrative competition featuring 12 leading clubs from the ASEAN region and AFF-affiliated countries. It was originally set to take place this year but has been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The event offers prizes to all participating teams, with the winning club to pocket more than $500,000. ACC is the next major competition in the region after AFF Cup, which will be held in April next year.

The winner of ACC could take up one of the three slots allocated for Asian teams at FIFA Club World Cup when the latter expands to a 24-team competition in 2021.