The adjustments are considered inevitable amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks throughout the world.
Specifically, the highly anticipated ASEAN Club Championships (ACC) has now been rescheduled to 2021. With the ACC having been slotted into 10 matchdays over five months in the regional schedule, it’s clear that with the pending rescheduling of many AFF national leagues and AFC competitions, there will not be sufficient time to complete the inaugural championship in 2020.
In addition, the AFF has decided to postpone some other events to later in the year, including the AFF Women’s Championship (slated for May in the Philippines), the AFF U18 Women’s Championship (slated for June), the AFF U16 Boys’ Championship (set for July) and the AFF U19 Boys’ Championship (planned for August).
Four other AFF events will take place as originally scheduled, including the AFF U15 Girls’ Championship in Indonesia this September, the AFF Futsal Championship, the AFF Futsal Club Championship and the AFF Beach Football Championship, all in Thailand, in the later part of the year.
The ASEAN Football Championship – AFF Cup 2020 – will maintain its planned start in November this year. Park Hang-seo’s Vietnamese side are currently the reigning champions of the tournament, following their 3-2 aggregate victory against Malaysia in 2018.
