A Singaporean firm has offered to sell the telecast rights of this year's Southeast Asian Football (soccer) Championship to national broadcaster Vietnam Television (VTV) for US$1.4 million, VTV has said.

World Sport Group is the company that legally owns the TV rights of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup 2014 and has demanded that price, VTV revealed, adding that it has yet to agree to the offer.

The AFF Suzuki Cup 2014 – Southeast Asia’s championship – will be hosted by Vietnam and Singapore from November 22 to December 20. The World Sport Group is headquartered in the city-state. 

VTV has the largest coverage of any channel in Vietnam and has been advised by the Vietnam Football Federation – the country’s football governing body – to buy the rights.

However, Nguyen Ha Nam, an official at VTV, said the price is too expensive, so further negotiations are needed. He added that VTV will not buy the rights at just any price.

VTV purchased the telecast rights of the AFF Suzuki Cup in 2012 for almost $1 million.

The tournament

All 11 national teams in Southeast Asia will take part in the AFF Suzuki Cup 2014, which features two rounds of qualifiers and finals.

The qualifying round, being held from October 12 to 20 in Laos, includes the five lowest-ranked teams in the region.

Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar, Timor Leste, and the host team are scheduled to play a round-robin competition to vie for two spots to advance to the finals with the six seeded teams, including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The eight final teams will compete in two groups.

Group-stage matches in Singapore will be held at the brand new, 55,000-seat National Stadium, which is part of the Sports Hub complex.

Games in Vietnam will be played at My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi.

The semifinal and final games will be staged in a home and away format from December 6 to 20.

The AFF Suzuki Cup is a biennial football competition administered by the ASEAN Football Federation and accredited by FIFA. 

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