Toyota splash the cash

News came through last week that the champions of 4 Mekong region countries - namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam - will contest a brand new competition, the Toyota Mekong Club Championship, to be played at the Hang Day Stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam between 31 October and 2 November this year. Toyota, the world's largest car maker, have been spreading their wealth around in recent times, including the World Cup, AFC Asian Cup and the Thai Premier League and this is another string to their marketing bow it seems. In conjunction with the title sponsorship, Toyota are also launching the ‘Toyota Mekong Football Challenge’ to inspire and groom young talented footballers. Not sure how that will work, but that's the plan. Whoever wins the Metfone C-League, it looks like their players will have a busy off-season period with the Cambodia national team due to play in Laos in the AFF Suzuki Cup qualifying tournament from 12-20 October. If Cambodia progress, the finals will start at the end of November, with this new club competition squeezed in between. There is also the U-21 competition in Brunei, the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy, which will be in August. There was also some talk of starting the C-League earlier as well though nothing more has been said about that.