Indonesia demands special treatment, AFF says no!

TPO - Indonesia requested the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) to give them the privilege to send the 3rd and 4th ranked teams in the National Championship to participate in the Southeast Asian Cup C1. However, the AFF firmly shook its head.

According to AFF regulations, the teams that finish first and second in the national championship of countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia will be able to participate in the Shopee Cup (Southeast Asia Cup C1) 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. The explanation from Indonesia is that Persib Bandung and Dewa United are busy participating in the Cup C2 and Cup C3 Asia so they cannot 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 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 asked the first and second-placed teams to be sent. 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 C1 is less than a day away, but at this time, there is no representative from Indonesia on the list. If there is no last-minute change, the group stage will be reduced to 12 teams and each group will have 6 teams. The playground for regional clubs will maintain the old format, instead of the new 14-team format as AFF wants.

Dang Lai

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