VietNamNet Bridge – The winner of this year's ASEAN Football Federation Cup will receive a prize of US$200,000, double that of previous years.

Nguyen Quoc Tuan, deputy chairman of the competition committee, said he had made the proposal to Viet Nam Football Federation chairman, Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah in the hope of making the AFF Cup more competitive.

"The level of US$100,000 for the champions has remained for too long. The increase must be done to match today's curriculum," Tuan said.

Shah agreed that the amount should be raised to $200,000 for the winner, with the two runners-up receiving $75,000 and $50,000.

The final round of the AFF Cup will be held in Malaysia and Thailand from November 24 to December 22.

The draw will be held in Bangkok today at 2pm local time. Vietnamese representative there is general secretary Ngo Le Bang.
According to new rules, defending champions Malaysia and title favourite Thailand, the two hosts, will be in different groups.

Viet Nam, regional No 1 seed, and Indonesia, the second seed, will not be in same gro up. Singapore and the Philippines are also divided.

As a result, every team will face strong rivals in the first round.

From October 5 to 15, a qualifying round for teams from Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei and Timor Leste will be organised in Myanmar. The two best teams will advance to the final round.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News