The ASEAN Football Federation was founded way back in 1984 (12 years before the first AFF Championships) at a meeting of half a dozen nations (Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand) in the Indonesian capital.
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar & Vietnam joined in 1996 with Timor-Leste following in 2004 and Australia becoming the latest of the dozen member nations in 2013, but they are the only member nation yet to have featured in the AFF Championships.
For just the second time Brunei will compete in the finals of the AFF Championships (2022 AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup)after storming to a 6-3 aggregate victory over Timor-Leste in the qualification playoffs.
Their only previous appearance came way back in the inaugural edition in 1996 where they won one of their four group stage matches, edging the Philippines 1-0 after an Irwan Mohammad goal.
For the first time, one of the newest stadiums in Southeast Asia - Morodok Techo National Stadium will play host to matches in the 2022 AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup as Cambodia get set to kick off their campaign against the Philippines in Phnom Penh.
The new National Stadium was opened barely a year ago and designed to resemble a sailing ship and is a superb, state-of-the-art, facility in the Cambodian capital, where up to 60,000 fans are expected to cheer on their side.
For only the second time, group stage will be played on a home-and-away basis in the 2022 AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup after the format was introduced in the 2018 campaign before the 2020 edition was centralised due to COVID-19.
This will allow more fans to witness their teams in action and again bring the full range of noise, colour and passion to the regional stage.
I hope my country Singapore wins the 2022 AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup . Ilhan Fandi who had just completed his transfer to Belgium's second-tier club KMSK Deinze is the man to watch. Ilhan joined Albirex midway through the last SPL season and impressed fans by scoring 18 goals in 24 matches.
He went on to win the SPL title with the team, and was awarded the young player of the year by the Football Association of Singapore.
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