Winning the National Cup, SLNA is not sure to participate in the AFC continental tournament

(Baonghean.vn) – SLNA is determined to win the National Cup, Nghe An fans are worried about the obligation to compete in the continental arena. However, in reality, things are not that simple.

Yesterday (November 23), on the newly updated 2017 AFC rankings, Vietnam football ranked 8th. Meanwhile, to get an official ticket, Vietnam football must rank 6th or higher in the group.

Because after 2 years, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has just updated the AFC Champions League spots, so in 2018, the 2017 V.League champion will play from the second qualifying round against Eastern (Hong Kong). In case of winning, they will meet the Suwon Bluewings Club of Korea.

Vietnamese football is not highly rated in the continental region.

In the 2018 season, if any team wins the V.League or the National Cup, they can still participate in AFC tournaments. However, SLNA, Hanoi, Thanh Hoa or Quang Nam will face difficulties if they want to reach the continental arena.

Specifically, the first standard that AFC sets for participating clubs is the field surface. For SLNA, if they want to participate in the AFC Cup, Vinh Stadium will definitely upgrade and replace the grass surface. Before deciding to allow clubs to participate in the AFC Cup or AFC Champions League, AFC supervisors will come to Vietnam to conduct a field survey. Next to the grass surface are medical rooms, “Doping” testing rooms and AFC standard equipment.

More importantly, AFC requires the host city to have 3 international flights from different directions to ensure the travel schedule. Because it is very difficult for AFC to arrange referees and supervise an additional trip from Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh City, Nghe An. In addition, there must be at least 2 hospitals that meet the requirements of the Asian Football Confederation to ensure medical services when necessary.

Vinh Stadium's condition is not yet certain to host AFC matches. Photo courtesy

So in case of winning the National Cup, SLNA will most likely have to rent My Dinh National Stadium. This means that the Nghe An team will have to move to Hanoi to participate in the AFC Cup. This will be a big problem for the spending plan of SLNA Club in 2018 as well as the Nghe An fans.

At the AFC Cup 2017, after being stripped of the right to play at home by the AFC, the two Vietnamese representatives, Hanoi Club and Than Quang Ninh, also had to rent My Dinh National Stadium (Hanoi) as their main stadium.

In Southeast Asia, the 2017 Indonesian National Champion Bhayangkara was also excluded from the AFC Champions League due to not meeting the requirements. In Malaysia, the Kedah National Cup Champion did not qualify for the AFC Cup and had to give up their place to Selangor FC.

In addition, the achievements of the clubs in the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup next year will be extremely important. Because the total points up to the end of 2018 will be used to divide the AFC Cup slots (2019-2020). Therefore, for Vietnamese football to reach the Asian arena is still a long story./.

Trung Kien