Indonesia demands special treatment, AFF says no!

TPO - Indonesia asked the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) to give them the privilege of sending the 3rd and 4th ranked teams in the National Championship to participate in the Southeast Asian Cup 1. However, the AFF firmly shook its head.

According to AFF regulations, the teams that finish first and second in the national championships of countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia will be able to participate in the Shopee Cup (Southeast Asia Cup 1) next season. According to this regulation, the two leading teams of the national championship, Persib Bandung and Dewa United, will represent the archipelago in the regional playground.

But Indonesia insisted on not sending Persib Bandung and Dewa United. They only let Malut United and Persebaya, the 3rd and 4th placed teams in the National Championship last season, compete in the Shopee Cup. Indonesia's explanation was that Persib Bandung and Dewa United were busy participating in the C2 Cup and the C3 Cup of Asia, so they could not compete in the regional tournament. The National Championship of the archipelago has 34 rounds, so their teams also have a more intense schedule than those in Vietnam, Malaysia or Thailand.

Persebaya was sent by Indonesia to attend Shopee Cup but AFF did not approve

Indonesia has asked the AFF to give them special privileges. Ferry Paulus, the executive director of the Indonesian National Championship, said: "After discussions over the past two days, the AFF has asked for the first and second-placed teams. However, we are still determined to only send the third and fourth-placed teams. We want to have special privileges. Because with the current situation, it seems that Indonesian clubs cannot participate in three tournaments at the same time."

But AFF still firmly said no. The governing body of Southeast Asian football emphasized that the two clubs proposed by Indonesia were not qualified. AFF wanted the strongest representatives to participate in the tournament similar to Vietnam, Thailand or Malaysia.

The draw for the Southeast Asian Cup 1 is less than a day away, but at this time, there is no representative from Indonesia on the list. If there are no last-minute changes, the group stage will have only 12 teams and each group will have 6 teams. The playground for regional clubs will maintain the old format, instead of the new format of 14 teams as AFF wants.

Dang Lai

Source: https://tienphong.vn/indonesia-doi-duoc-doi-xu-dac-biet-aff-noi-khong-post1757249.tpo