Asean football council to discuss Asean Super League in S’pore next week

SINGAPORE – Members of the Asean Football Federation (AFF) council will meet at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront in Singapore next Wednesday to discuss the proposed Asean Super League (ASL), TODAY understands.

The ASL, which is slated to commence in September this year, is spearheaded by former Football Association of Singapore (FAS) president Zainudin Nordin, who had previously claimed that the formation of the competition was fully backed by the members of the AFF.

It is understood that the ASL taskforce will provide an update on the competition to the AFF council at next week’s meeting.

When contacted, AFF general-secretary Dato’ Sri Azzuddin Ahmad confirmed that the council would be discussing the ASL, but refused to go into details. “Yes, there will be a meeting and the ASL is on the agenda,” he said.

“But I have no authority to talk on the ASL, so I think it’s best for you to talk to Zainudin.”

However, Zainudin declined to comment when approached as he said that “discussions were still ongoing.”

This meeting is the latest in a series of recent developments surrounding the ASL, the idea of which was first mooted in 2005.

TODAY had previously reported that the ASL had combined with CT Sports – whose investors are Malaysian online investment firm Catcha Group, and regional sports marketing agency Total Sports Asia (TSA) - to form a joint venture called ASL Pte Ltd.

A recruitment advertisement for the ASL’s chief executive officer (CEO) – a Singapore-based role – was also put up online late last year. When TODAY last checked, the ad was still up online, and no closing date was specified.

The ASL taskforce also met with various stakeholders, including clubs in Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia, over the past four months to present its plans.

Apart from Australia and Timor Leste, the remaining 10 AFF members, which consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore, are expected to each send a representative to take part in the ASL.

It is believed that Singapore’s representative will be similar to the now-defunct LionsXII, which was set up by the FAS in 2011 to take part in Malaysia’s domestic competitions.

Made up mainly of national players, the LionsXII participated in the Malaysian Super League from 2012 to 2015.

But the team was dismantled at the end of 2015 after the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) dropped it from the 2016 MSL season. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY TEO TENG KIAT.