Kuala Lumpur, 10 November 2021 – With the excitement building ahead of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2020, the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and commercial partner SPORTFIVE today unveiled the tournament’s themes that will set the tone for a show-stopping event taking place in Singapore from 5 December to 1 January 2022. This year’s event will be a celebration of the Stars and Superheroes of the event – the teams, players, fans – but also the frontliners across ASEAN that have been battling the pandemic to keep our communities safe.
Theme 1: Our Stars – Our Teams
The exhilarating football action, passionate fanbase and intense rivalry amongst teams have always been a staple for the AFF Suzuki Cup with fans ever eager to prove their team’s superiority over their opposition. While the pandemic has caused some disruptions, these rivalries have not disappeared but merely went into hibernation, because #RivalriesNeverDie. Leading up to the AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 in December, fans are called upon to rise up once again and reignite the rivalries and demonstrate at the upcoming tournament that #RivalriesNeverDie.
Inspired by the players and teams who are every fan’s Stars, SPORTFIVE has refreshed the visual identity of each team and created new team masks that reimagine the image and identity of each ASEAN nation. Each team mask is visually crafted to personify the respective football federations and fans can look forward to seeing these masks across the AFF Suzuki Cup channels and have the opportunity to interact with the masks as filters on our social media platforms.
Theme 2: Our Superheroes – Our Frontliners
Off the pitch, AFF will be using the AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 as a platform for the ASEAN football family to come together and thank our real-life superheroes – the frontliners, for their sacrifice, compassion and dedication during these unprecedented times.
To shine the spotlight on these superheroes, AFF has dedicated the tagline “Emerging Stronger Together” and planned a series of CSR initiatives for the ASEAN football family, including the teams, players and the millions of fans across the region, to pay tribute to all frontliners and thank them for their efforts and hard work over the past few years.
AFF President, Major General Khiev Sameth, said, “This year’s AFF Suzuki Cup is momentous. The frontline workers have often gone beyond the call of duty to care for the community and they are superheroes in their own right. Football has the power of bringing people together, so it is important for us, the ASEAN football family, to express our gratitude to them during this special occasion and show our unity and resilience as a community as we emerge stronger together.”
Malcolm Thorpe, Managing Director, South East Asia at SPORTFIVE, said “In addition to the growing excitement around the return of the AFF Suzuki Cup and the opportunity to celebrate the players and teams as the football stars that they are, we are delighted to support AFF in their quest to celebrate the superheroes in our midst, especially all our frontliners who have been working tirelessly in the respective countries to keep their communities safe. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts and look forward to emerging stronger together as a united ASEAN region.”
About the AFF Suzuki Cup
The AFF Suzuki Cup is a biennial football competition organised by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), accredited by FIFA, and contested by the national ‘A’ teams of Southeast Asia.
The 13th edition of the AFF Suzuki Cup, scheduled from 5 December 2021 to 1 January 2022, will continue the format where 10 qualified teams will be split into two groups of five and play a round robin system, with each team playing four fixtures. The format of the knockout round remains unchanged, with semi-finals and the final played on two-leg format.
About the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF)
The ASEAN Football Federation comprises 12 Member Associations. The main objectives of the ASEAN Football Federation are to develop football in ASEAN through its activities, courses and competitions, to continue to nurture the AFF Suzuki Cup as the premier Football Tournament in Asia and to foster closer relationships between Member Associations in ASEAN and the Regional Federations across Asia.
About SPORTFIVE
SPORTFIVE utilises the unique emotional power of sports to create and enable pioneering partnerships in sports. By delivering responsible commercialisation, full-service-solutions and long-term value for all stakeholders in sports, SPORTFIVE strategically and creatively connects brands, rightsholders, media platforms and fans by leveraging a global network paired with decades of experience and innovative spirit. As a market leader and with customer centricity and vast data intelligence at its core, SPORTFIVE often leads the sports business into the future through its innovative digital solutions and thereby always aims to be the most progressive and respected partner in sports. SPORTFIVE operates as an international sports business agency with a global mindset and a network of over 1,200 local experts based in 15 countries around the world, active in Football, Golf, Esports, Motorsport, Handball, Tennis, American Football, Basketball, Ice Hockey, Multi Sport Events and many more. For more information, please visit our website or follow our LinkedIn channel.
