Gialia last inclusion in initial ASEAN Club Championship
Gialia last inclusion in initial ASEAN Club Championship
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
H.A. Gialia of Vietnam was the last team confirming its
participation in the 110,000 euro (US$130,000) ASEAN Club
Championship, which Indonesia will host from July 13 through July
26.
The event will feature the national soccer league champions of
the countries grouped in the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN).
The inaugural season of the biennial event under the ASEAN
Football Federation (AFF) will also see East Bengal of India
(South Asia) join as an invitee.
"Gialia won the Vietnamese soccer league last Sunday. It must
be one of the strong teams in the championship, given the team's
lineup -- it has seven players from the national team," Alamgir
B. Kashmiri from the organizing committee said here on Wednesday.
Kashmiri is the managing director of STRATA Sports Marketing
Limited, the official European representatives of the Asian
Football Confederation (AFC), which has been awarded a six-year
deal by AFF to organize the ASEAN Club Championship. The
championship is to be held every two years.
Terdsak Chaiman, who helped steer Thailand to its Tiger Cup
victory in Jakarta in 2002, seems to have an integral role in
Gialia's potential power.
As the host, Indonesia will be represented by 2002 champion
Petrokimia Putra and runner-up Persita.
Petrokimia Putra will host the Group A and B matches at its
home pitch of Gresik (East Java), while Persita will move from
Tangerang, Banten province, to Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta to
host the Group C and D matches. Gresik will also be the official
site of the opening kick-off to the ASEAN championship.
Each group consists of three teams, from which the top two
teams will qualify for the quarterfinals. The semifinals and the
final will be played in Jakarta.
The inaugural tournament in Indonesia is expected to be an
entertaining and successful competition, and it is hoped to ensue
in a heightened competitiveness in the region, given the fact
that the majority of the clubs line up foreign players.
"With Thailand appearing to dominate the Tiger Cup, the club
championship is expected to provide more balanced rivalries,"
Kashmiri said.
The Tiger Cup is the countries' biennial event in the region.
The ASEAN Club Championship will be officially launched on
June 20, and will be attended by team representatives.
Group A: Petrokimia Putra (Indonesia), Finance & Revenue
(Myanmar), Smart United (Cambodia)
Group B: SAFF (Singapore), Perak FC (Malaysia), DPMM (Brunei
Darussalam)
Group C: Persita (Indonesia), H.A. Gialia (Vietnam), MTTPC
(Laos)
Group D: Bec-Tero Sassana (Thailand), East Bengal (India), Air
Force (the Philippines)