Tap Sports snags AFF Suzuki Cup broadcast rights

The premier regional competition in ASEAN is headed to TapGo.

Tap Digital Media Ventures (Tap DMV) recently revealed their media acquisition on their social media, followed by the official announcement by the ASEAN Football Federation.

The deal ensure TAP has exclusive rights to the competition in the Philippines, broadcasting all the matches of the tournament, including the semifinals and finals.

AFF President Major General Khiev Sameth says, "We are pleased that... TAP DMV have come on board to further expand the coverage of the AFF Suzuki Cup to reach more fans and new audiences in Asia. Few sporting events in Asia come close to the level of popularity and interest that the AFF Suzuki Cup garner, and we are glad that our fans in... Philippines are now able to catch all the best football action from the comforts of their homes."

SPORTFIVE SEAsia Managing Director Malcolm Thorpe adds, "We are delighted to welcome... TAP DMV as official broadcasters of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 for... the Philippines.... The continued interest in the event from major broadcast partners clearly demonstrates the attractiveness of the AFF Suzuki Cup across Asia, and not just in the ASEAN region. We are certain that fans in all these countries will be enthralled with the exhilarating football action and we look forward to working with these experienced media partners to deliver one of the most highly anticipated editions of the AFF Suzuki Cup to all our football fans in these regions."

Of course, Filipinos are very much excited for the chance to watch the Philippines compete in the twice-postponed tournament, although the road towards a return trip to the semifinals is very much complicated.

They kick things off against hosts and three-time champions Singapore on December 8, followed by Timor Leste on the 11th and five-time champions Thailand on the 14th, all of which take place at the Singapore National Stadium.

The Azkals close out against Myanmar at Bishan Stadium on the 18th.

Under Scott Cooper, the Azkals will be led by team captain Stephan Schroeck, with vice captain Patrick Reichelt, Martin Steuble, and Amani Aguinaldo getting the chance to participate in their fourth AFF Suzuki Cup.

Leading the way for the newcomers is newly naturalized striker Bienvenido Maranon, alongside Malaysia League standout Kevin Ray Mendoza (Hansen) of Kuala Lumpur City FC and the much anticipated senior debut of Jesper Nyholm of Djurgardens IF.

Also present is Jefferson Tabinas of Japanese side Mito Hollyrock, whose stint in the dual World Cup/Asian Cup qualifying earned praise and plaudits from fans and analysts alike.

TAP DMV is expected to show its games on Premier Football on television, which is available on the major cable networks. For those who have the TapGo app, one can watch the games with at least the TapGo Premium plans, which are available for just PhP 299/monthly.

Azkals call up 27 for Suzuki Cup duty

The Philippine Football Federation has called up 27 players to comprise the preliminary roster for the AFF Suzuki Cup.

Stephan Schroeck of United City leads the squad as captain, with Patrick Reichelt acting as vice-captain. Mike Ott, Martin Steuble, Angel Guirado, and Kenshiro Daniels also got enlisted by head coach Scott Cooper and his staff.

Amani Aguinaldo, Kevin Ingreso, Iain Ramsay, and Daisuke Sato are back after sitting out the dual World Cup and Asian Cup Qualifying this past June, with recent call-ups Jeff Tabinas, Mar Diano, Bernd Schipmann and Kevin Ray Mendoza also returning.

Fresh from their stint in AFC U-23 Qualifying are Oliver Bias, Justin Baas, Dennis Chung, Quincy Kammeraad, Oskari Kekkonen, Sandro Reyes, and Christian Rontini.

After a long naturalization process, Bienve Marañon will finally make his Azkals debut, alongside Matthew Custodio, Harry Foll, Amin Nazari, and Jesper Nyholm.

Notables missing out on the competition are Jarvey Gayoso, Manny Ott, Carlie De Murga, Sebastian Rasmussen, Adrian Ugelvik, and Canada-based brothers Michael and Matthew Baldisimo.

A few more were ruled out due to club commitments. With the competition being held outside of the FIFA international window, clubs are not obliged to release players. This includes the likes of Neil Etheridge, Gerrit Holtmann, Michael Kempter, Raphael Obermair, and Patrick Strauss, as well as the likes of Patrick Deyto, and Josh Grommen.

Meanwhile, both Javier Patino and Michael Falkesgaard have called time on their international careers.

Cooper says about the Suzuki Cup, "This is a very prestigious tournament. We have a history of doing well and going to the semifinals, but we need to do more than that. We have to look at the last Suzuki Cup (in 2018) and that half of that schedule, was in the FIFA calendar. For this tournament, we have so many players unavailable and most of them were unable to be released by their clubs. We don’t have that luxury as other countries so we’re hoping that organizers look at the calendar in the future."

Team manager Dan Palami acknowledges that preparations for the tournament have been far from ideal, especially with players still in club competition with less than a couple of weeks from the start. He adds, "We have to deal with the situation. I think now more than ever, the team will have to summon the never-say-die spirit that Filipinos are known for."

Cooper also shares, "It’s extremely difficult hence we have to temper our expectations. We have a nice squad and we have a new addition in Jesper Nyholm, whose season is finally finished, so we can bring him in and there’s couple of new faces coming in."

Nonetheless, he says the Azkals still need to be ambitious and “represent ourselves well.”

"We have a good squad, we must be positive and go on and show what we can do."

Slotted in Group A, the Philippines will kick off their campaign against hosts Singapore on December 8, followed by matches against Timor Leste on the 11th and Thailand on the 14th, all at the Singapore National Stadium. They will finish off against Myanmar at Bishan Stadium on December 18.

Twenty seven players make up the Azkals lineup for the AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 set in Singapore beginning December 5.

Bacolod to host AFF Suzuki Cup Group Stage matches, Tickets available tomorrow

Schedule and Ticketing details for the Philippines in the AFF Suzuki Cup Group Stage

The most-anticipated tournament in the region is sporting new wrinkles.

The AFF Suzuki Cup is just a month away, and it has a new format to play with for football fans.

Doing away with a central venue per Group Stage format used in its previous editions, the 2018 version now has a home-and-away format, with two home matches and two away matches. It does still keep the two-group set-up, but this time having five teams in a group instead of four.

The Philippines is packaged alongside the teams it faced during their disappointing 2016 campaign in Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. Timor Leste completes the Group B participants after surviving a two-legged playoff against Brunei.

Meanwhile, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos form the basis for Group A.

The Philippine Football Federation has selected the Pana-ad Park and Football Stadium to be the home stadium for the Philippines in its AFF Suzuki Cup matches, which is the first time since 2006 that the football facility will be hosting such a match. PFF President Mariano Araneta, Jr, shares, "The AFF Suzuki Cup makes its return to the Pana-­ad Park and Football Stadium in Bacolod City. It (the AFF Suzuki Cup) holds a special place to all Philippine football fans. We invite all football stakeholders and more importantly, the fans to support the Men’s National Team in their home matches."

Pana-ad will host the matches against Singapore on November 13 and Thailand on November 21. As for the away matches, the Kuala Lumpur Stadium will serve as host for the Azkals' match against Timor Leste on November 17, with the cavernous Gelora Bung Karno Stadium serving as the venue for their match against Indonesia.

Ticketing details for both matches are already posted on the above photo.

To prepare for this tournament and for the subsequent AFC Asian Cup early next year, the Philippines participated in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup in Bangladesh, where they made it to the semifinals. They also faced Oman in a friendly, which ended up in a 1-1 draw in Qatar.

AFF Suzuki Cup Group Stage schedule for the Philippines

AFF Suzuki Cup Group Stage matches

It is that time of the year again, as regional pride is at stake with the upcoming 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup.

Tickets are still available via Ticketworld, and the Philippine Football Federation already outlining shuttle details to the arena:






No official announcement as of yet for local free tv broadcast for the AFF Suzuki Cup, but Fox Sports is slated to show the Azkals matches at 8pm on Fox Sports 1.

Neil Etheridge misses out on AFF Suzuki Cup

Neil Etheridge at Bishkek

The Suzuki Cup has always held a special place in the heart of Azkals’ goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, as it was under his watch six years ago that Philippine football came to prominence, going through for the first time past the group stages en route to its first ever semi-final appearance.

Since those heady days of 2010, Etheridge has consolidated himself as the first choice goalkeeper for the Philippines, but has not been able to represent the country again in the Suzuki Cup again.

And with the prestigious biennial tournament not falling under the FIFA Calendar, Neil Etheridge will miss this year's edition, yet again.

“It's frustrating that the Suzuki Cup doesn't fall within international dates, but for the past years now I guess I have been used to not being involved,” says Etheridge.

“It's disappointing for me on a personal level because the experiences that I gained from that cup competition when I was younger were second to none, the atmosphere, the intensity and the teams pulling together to gain victory.”

The Philippines is hosting the tournament for the first time in its history, a fact which makes it tougher for Neil.

“The competition being played on home soil of course is even more frustrating but there's nothing I can do about the games being held outside international dates so I try not to think about the situation, but no doubt I will be watching and cheering the Azkals on from England.”

Etheridge however, has full confidence in the team and is optimistic of the team’s chances this time around.

“The team have looked strong and resilient in the past games that I have played in. I know we still have some injuries but the squad has looked compact and together with a great changing room atmosphere which plays a big part.”

After going through to the semi-finals three times in a row, the Azkals and the fans are understandably looking forward to going one step further and booking a place in the final.

But Etheridge cautions fans not to take the task of getting out of the group lightly, even with home field advantage.

“I don't think it really matters what group we were drawn into, both look extremely hard, maybe with our group being slightly more difficult. I believe the team need to really take each game on its own merit. Each individual game will be tough and have its own hurdles to jump.

“But, thinking about the semi-finals too early may be a down fall.”

“First the team will need to concentrate of getting out of the group and then have a strategy, playing both home and away, in the knockout rounds.”

Neil Etheridge for Walsall

Domestically, Etheridge has been in fine form for English League One side Walsall FC, earning plaudits from media and fans alike.

But with Walsall currently at the lower half of the table, he knows that there is a lot of room for improvement.

 “The season started with a great win followed by a few results that didn't go our way but I could see potential. The team is completely new from last year, very young and some with minimal experience.

“As the season goes on I'm sure we will gel even more on the field, as behind the scenes the team has a great work ethic and atmosphere.


“On a personal level, I have been playing well and I know I need to keep it up throughout the season to play my part in this team.

“The league this season is extremely hard. Former Premiere League side Bolton were unbeaten until they came to our place. And that also shows maybe the importance of home court advantage.

And it is that home court advantage that Etheridge hopes the Filipino fans would capitalize on, in the Suzuki Cup in Manila.

“The supporters in Manila will play another large factor, getting behind the team and cheering them on, acting as the 12th player. Our past home performances have been good so I hope that this can continue into the Suzuki Cup.”



PFF statement re: AFF Suzuki Cup hosting

After inspection by its rights holder Lagardere Sports (formerly World Sports Group), the Asean Football Federation (AFF) has disapproved the 15-thousand seat Rizal Memorial Football Stadium as primary venue of the Group Stage matches to be hosted by the Philippines.  The 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup competition regulations require among others a minimum 30-thousand seat capacity for primary venues of  group stage matches.

While the 20-thousand seat privately-owned Philippine Sports Stadium has also been nominated, AFF however requires submission of a written stadium hire contract.  Deadline of 31 January 2016 and further deadline of 9 February 2016 have lapsed without PFF receiving a signed contract from PSS.

With no qualified stadia at the moment, PFF is compelled to bring the matter to AFF and will  take up the stadia qualification during the AFF Council meeting on 12 March 2016 at Danang, Vietnam.

24 February 2016. PFF House of Football, Pasig City.


Atty. Edwin Gastanes
General Secretary

Suzuki Cup almost set

 Although the official roster of players will not be revealed until the day before their game against Laos, the Philippine Football Federation has revealed that 21 players will be making the trip to Hanoi for the AFF Suzuki Cup.

Here are the 21 names.

1. Robert James GIER
2. Juan Luis GUIRADO
3. James Joseph YOUNGHUSBAND
4. Manuel OTT
5. Misagh BAHADORAN
6. Philip James YOUNGHUSBAND
7. Daisuke SATO
8. Amani Manuel AGUINALDO
9. Patrick Phillip DEYTO
10. Christopher Robert GREATWICH
11. Martin Markus STEUBLE
12. Paul MULDERS
13. Simone ROTA
14. Simon Clive GREATWICH
15. Mark Andrew HARTMANN
16. Tomas Angel TRIGO
17. Curt-Jordan DIZON
18. Patrick REICHELT
19. Kenshiro Michael DANIELS
20. Jerry Ruben LUCENA
21. Dennis VILLANUEVA

A couple of missing names stand out:

First, Roland Muller. The Servette goalkeeper will be unavailable until the knockout rounds. In fact, if he will be playing, it will only be in the second leg, as the Swiss side's final match in 2014 won't be until December 7. The Suzuki Cup semis are tabled to take place on  December 6/7 and December 10/11.

Second, Alvaro Silva. The Al-Qadisya defender at the time that the PFF released this info was still finalizing details with regards to his passport that will clear him to participate. It is expected that he will be able to secure his passport by then.

Teams have until November 21 to finalize their respective lineups for the AFF Suzuki Cup, which will kick off the next day with the Philippines against Laos at My Dinh Stadium in the Vietnamese capital.