SINGAPORE - Radical changes could be made to the current Asean Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup format, resulting in the group stages being played over a longer period, but ensuring that fans of the various competing countries will get to see their national teams playing at least four times on home soil.

According to Football Channel Asia, a website reporting on Asian football, the AFF is due to discuss these probable changes at their meeting in Vietnam today.

Instead of the current format, which sees two countries co-hosting a group stage each, the AFF is reportedly keen to explore the idea of having the group stage matches being played in a home-and-away round-robin format.

The idea is to have the 10 national teams qualified to play in the 2018 edition divided into two groups of five teams each.

The teams will play one another in a home-and- away, round-robin format. The top two teams from each group will eventually advance to the semi-final stage.

The semi-final and final stages will then be played in a two-legged format.

According to media reports, the AFF considers the tournament’s current format ineffective in attracting a large audience.

The regional football body has concluded after several editions of the tournament that any group stage matches that do not feature the co-host countries often fail to attract big crowds to the stadiums.

There has also been feedback from the various national football associations that supporters of each national team also want to see their national footballers playing on home soil.

It is also understood that the proposal has received support from the tournament sponsors, because it will help to generate more brand awareness for the sponsors. Increased revenue from broadcast rights could also result from this new format.

Similarly, more international matches being played will not only lead to more international exposure for their national players, but also result in the AFF nations accumulating more FIFA ranking points that may help to improve their positions in the FIFA world ladder.

One positive effect from this is that it may help national teams to attract better opposition for international friendlies.

The AFF could not be reached for comment last night.

However, former Singapore international striker Aleksandar Duric, who helped Singapore to win the 2012 Suzuki Cup, gave the idea the thumbs up.

“It’s not a bad idea, because this will give each country’s fans a chance to see their team play live during the tournament,” said the 45-year-old who scored 24 goals in 53 internationals for the Lions, and retired from football in 2014.

“I remember that when we played the Suzuki Cup in Malaysia (in 2012), we spent almost two weeks there and we didn’t see a lot of Singaporean fans turning up for our games.

“So by changing the format, it will definitely engage more fans, and yes, this will in turn help to get more sponsors on board.”

Duric noted however that the new supposedly proposed format could mean more logistical issues for the tournament.

“(Home and away matches) mean that there will be more games being played and the tournament could take weeks to finish,” said the principal of the Active SG football academy. “If organisers decide to implement a rushed schedule to fit in the increased number of games, it could mean insufficient rest time for the players. Logistics will also be a problem with so teams playing so many games.”

Nevertheless, Duric can see more positives than negatives from such a new format.

“I’m excited to see how this is going to work. It’s an interesting concept. More crucially, I think players will like it because they usually enjoy playing international games.”