History of the AFF Cup

The establishment of ASEAN in 1967 which has the aim of building stability, peace, and cooperation between Southeast Asian countries in fields such as social, cultural, technical, economic, education, sports, and others has made ASEAN increasingly show significant progress. In the field of sports, for example, ASEAN regularly holds the SEA Games every two years, ASEAN also regularly holds the AFF Cup every two years. Everything is organized to strengthen the relationship between ASEAN member countries. This paper will try to discuss the journey of the AFF Cup historically.

The ASEAN Football Federation Cup or AFF Cup is an official soccer tournament between ASEAN countries under the ASEAN Football Federation or AFF. In timeline, the AFF was formed through an informal meeting in 1982 between several ASEAN members which later became the basis of the birth of the ASEAN football federation responsible for the ASEAN football championship. The meeting was held in Bangkok and was attended by Dato' Seri Haji Hamzah Haji Abu Samah (Malaysia), Dato' Peter Velappan (AFC), Mr. Hans Pendelaki (Indonesia), Mr. Fernando G. Alvarez (Philippines), Mr. Pisit Ngampanich (Thailand), Mr. Teo Chong Tee (Singapore) and Mr. Yap Boon Chuan (Singapore). The meeting, which was held on the sidelines of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Executive Committee meeting in Bangkok, was aimed at looking at the possibility of organizing a club championship competition among ASEAN member associations. This is quite reasonable because at that time, there was a gap regarding the quality standards of football between ASEAN countries. The existence of the tournament is considered to be able to improve the gap in the quality of football between ASEAN countries.

Source: sport.detik.com

Furthermore, close cooperation in football through the organization of tournaments is expected to make ASEAN football more competitive in both Asian and world championships. A year later, further meetings between representatives of national football associations who had previously met informally were held in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Bangkok before the AFF was finally inaugurated in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. One year later, the first meeting of the ASEAN Football Federation or AFF was held from January 31, 1984 to February 1, 1984 in Jakarta and was attended by Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Thailand. The six countries are the founding members of the AFF. At the meeting, Mr. H. Kardono from Indonesia was elected as the first President of the AFF accompanied by Pengiran Ibrahim Pengiran Damit from Brunei Darussalam as AFF Vice President.

In line with ASEAN's political ideals to strengthen relations between member countries, the AFF sought to realize these ideals by organizing four editions of the ASEAN Club Championship which took place from 1984 to 1989. Thus, the first AFF football tournament was based on clubs as participants. This inter-club championship was organized with the aim of determining the team that would represent ASEAN in the Asian Club Championships against the best clubs in Asia. In its development, a change in the format of the Asian Club Championships organized by the AFC a year later, coupled with a lack of response from member associations, as well as financial constraints, resulted in the ASEAN Champions Cup failing to be held in the following years.

The AFF then went through a hiatus where most of the activities were based on invitations from host countries for specific courses or seminars. The AFF came back to life in 1994, at which time, the Malaysian Football Association initiated the revival of the AFF with the aim of helping each other and sorting out management, administration, coaching and refereeing matters. The first AFF Congress after the hiatus was successfully held on February 4, 1994. The congress was organized to discuss assistance for member countries and to hand over the presidency of the AFF to the Football Association of Thailand. Two years later, another congress was held on June 3, 1996 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and successfully amended the AFF constitution.

The Congress also appointed H.E. Tengku Tan Sri Dato' Seri Ahmad Rithaudeen Al-Haj Bin Tengku Ismail of Malaysia as the President of the AFF. The Congress agreed on two vice presidents as well as a provision to allow any ASEAN member to become a full member of the AFF. The two AFF vice presidents are Mr. Nabon Noor from Indonesia and Dato' Vijit Getkaew from Thailand while Dato' Paul Mony Samuel is the Secretary/Treasurer of the Federation. At the same Congress, H Kardono was appointed Honorary President and Dato' T.P. Murugasu an Honorary Member. This was in recognition of their previous service. Also at the 1996 congress, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam officially became members of the AFF.

The formation of the AFF management through the congress above had a positive impact on the birth of a new spirit from the AFF management to hold a more competitive and economically valuable ASEAN football tournament. Dato` Worawi Makudi, Secretary General of the Thai Football Association and Dato` Paul Mony Samuel, Secretary General of the Malaysian Football Association said that they were thinking of ways that could make the AFF more attractive to sponsors and they also thought that they needed a competition that could not only provide the impetus to make the AFF member countries more competitive but also to give the federation a financial footing for all other activities. They then moved quickly to realize these ideals.

As a result, the AFF successfully attracted sponsors to enliven the AFF soccer tournament. It was proven when the first ASEAN soccer tournament for ten AFF member countries involving the national team was held in Singapore in 1996 called the Tiger Cup, because at that time, the main sponsor was Tiger Beer, a Singaporean beer company. This sponsor lasted until it resigned in 2004, which was the last AFF cup event under the name Tiger Cup. Only after that, the AFF Cup entered a new phase which was then officially renamed the AFF Championship in 2007. A year later (2008), Japanese automotive company Suzuki became the official sponsor of the AFF soccer tournament so that the name of the tournament was changed to the AFF Suzuki Cup.

The tournament is biennial and has used several competition schemes such as the home tournament, where one ASEAN country hosts from the beginning to the end of the tournament which took place from 1996-2000. Only in 2002, two countries (Indonesia, Singapore) hosted during the group stage. After that, came the knockout phase where Indonesia hosted this phase until the final. During 1996-2002, the semifinal and semi-final schemes were held once in one host country. And from 2004 to 2016 the scheme continued to have two countries as hosts. However, there are home and away matches in the semifinal and final phases. In the implementation of the AFF Cup in 2018, all AFF member countries hosted the group phase and a home-away system was implemented in the semifinals and finals. And along with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, at the AFF Cup 2020, the tournament format returned to the original with one country, Singapore, as the host from start to finish. However, the home and away format in the semifinals and finals has not changed. That is, home and away matches are still carried out in one host country to avoid the potential spread of Covid-19.

The AFF Cup is participated by all ASEAN member countries and partner countries such as Timor Leste. During the period 1996-2020, the AFF Cup title gave birth to several countries as champions. Throughout the AFF Cup tournament, Thailand is listed as a country that often comes out as a champion with the title of seven titles (1996, 2000, 2000, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022), followed by Singapore with four titles (1998, 2004, 2007, 2012), Vietnam with two titles (2008, 2018), and Malaysia with one title (2010). There is something interesting about the facts of the AFF Cup champions. Interestingly, Indonesia is listed as a country that often comes out as runner up to the AFF Cup with a record of six times (2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2016, 2020). This is a record in itself for Indonesia, which for six times entered the final, six times also failed to embrace the title. The context of the narrative above is a narrative about the organization of the AFF Cup for the Senior national team. In practice, the soccer competition under the auspices of the AFF has many branches, including: AFF U23 Championship, AFF U18/19 Championship, AFF U15/16 Championship, AFF Women`s Championship, AFF U16 Girl`s Championship, AFF Futsal Championship, AFF Futsal Cup. This is the historical narrative of the AFF Cup.