Vietnam to play AFF Cup 2020 in Singapore

The AFF hosted an online meeting Tuesday afternoon wherein a vote was held among its 11 members to choose the host. Singapore won with seven votes.

Singapore fulfilled all the criteria to organize the tournament, including the government’s permission, pandemic response plan, travel convenience and risk insurance if the event was canceled.

Singapore also has high standard facilities to host all matches of the AFF Cup. Its national stadium, with a capacity of 55,000, has hosted many big events like SEA Games 2015 and many other international football tournaments.

The AFF Cup was established in 1996 and Singapore hosted the first edition. The country has organized four AFF Cup tournaments and won four titles so far.

The biggest Southeast Asian football event was supposed to take place in 2020 but was pushed back to late 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The name AFF Cup 2020 will be maintained for the tournament set to take place from December 5, 2021 to January 1, 2022.

The contestants have been divided into two groups.

Group A consists of Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar, Singapore and the winner of the play-off between Brunei and Timor-Leste.

Group B has defending champions Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos.