HA NOI — Viet Nam have been seeded No 1 for the upcoming Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) Cup 2012.

Following their success at the previous three tournaments, Viet Nam are the favourites, followed by Indonesia and Malaysia.

The draw of the tournament will be held on July 11 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Apart from the top three teams, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines have also received wildcards for the final round.

The rest of the five teams will have to participate in the round robin qualifiers in Myanmar from October 5-13. The top two will qualify for the finals.

The group rounds will take place in Malaysia and Thailand from November 24-December 22, and the top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals.

Viet Nam, who have won the title once and finished third on two occasions, have been preparing for the tournament with three friendly matches last month. They lost 0-3 to China [mainland] before beating Hong Kong 2-1 and Mozambique 1-0.

The team will be announced next month after the national premier league V-League closes on August 19. The head coach of the national team will also be announced in this time, according to the Viet Nam Football Federation.

Viet Nam have yet to select a new manager after German coach Falko Goetz was fired last December. Coach Phan Thanh Hung has been assigned as caretaker coach of the team. — VNS