Vietnam and Singapore Are Hosts of AFF Suzuki Cup 2014
二週間ほど前になりますが、AFF（東南アジアサッカー連盟）評議会が開催され、いくつかの決定がなされました。
Vietnam and Singapore have been selected as the Group Stage hosts for the next edition of the AFF Suzuki Cup in 2014. The selection of the host cities was confirmed by the AFF Council during their meeting here this afternoon.
2014年スズキカップ（東南アジアサッカー選手権）のグループステージの開催地がヴェトナムとシンガポールに決まりました。スズキのスポンサードはまだ正式に決まってなかったと思いますので、大会名称はまた変わるかも知れません。
Being selected as the preliminary hosts will be a huge boost for Singapore as they defend the title they sensationally won last year. Singapore is expected to host the tournament at the new stadium which is scheduled to be ready later this year.
前大会優勝のシンガポールにとっては、連覇への後押しになるかも知れない。今年後半に完成のスタジアムも期待されている。（何処？ナショナルスタジアムの改装は終わったよね？
Beside the awards ceremony the draw to the AFF Championship 2013 took place. The tournament is held between 17-28 October in Bangkok. Maybe by then, with a year delay, we can see the Bangkok Futsal Arena opening its doors. The result of the draw looks as follow. Group A: Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines and Brunai. Group B: Australia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Timor-Leste and Laos. At the same time, the tournament is deemed to be a qualification to the AFC Futsal Championships 2014. The top four teams are qualified.
「AFF Championship 2013」とはフットサルのAFF選手権のようです。偶数年開催だったのが、AFCの予選との絡みで奇数年に変更になったようです。
大会は2013.10.17-28にバンコクにて。
A組：タイ、ヴェトナム、マレーシア、フィリピン、ブルネイ
B組：オーストラリア、インドネシア、ミャンマー、東ティモール、ラオス
さりげなくオーストラリアが入ってますが詳細は次の項目以降に。
大会フォーマットは不明ですが、上位4チームがアジア選手権行きみたいです。
At the end of the day, the congress came up with two big surprises. No. It is not the decision about the host countries for the AFF Suzuki Cup 2014, Singapore and Vietnam. Rather: the fact that there are no qualification round to be played. So for the first time since 2004, all AFF members are to enter the proper tournament. Up to now these are 11 nations. However, this could change soon. If the (soon) newest member decide to take part. And this is the second big surprise: Australia.
2014スズキカップは予選ラウンド無しで行う模様。前回は参加11ヶ国でしたが、次回はオーストラリアが加わるかも知れません。
What provided only for a mumbling in Thailand and was worth just a marginal note in the local media created a much bigger buzz abroad (not least with a little help from us). Following a statement of Thai FA secretary general Ong-Arj Kosinkar on Wednesday; Australian FA spokesman came out on Friday and exclusively told Goal "Asean members have unanimously supported our entry into the AFF," he said "But it still has to be finalised at the meeting of the extraordinary congress in August." However, this seems just pure formality.
オーストラリアのAFF加入は8月の臨時議会で承認される見込み。
ということで、オーストラリアのAFF加入は決まりっぽいですね。
