Asean Cup dates moved to avoid clashing with AFC’s top-tier club tournaments

SINGAPORE – The Asean Football Federation (AFF) Championship will see stronger representation from South-east Asian countries, after new dates for the biennial competition were announced on Aug 27.

The tournament proper will now be from Dec 8 to Jan 5, instead of Nov 23 to Dec 21, “to ensure optimum strength and performance of national teams at the tournament”, the AFF said in a statement after considering “recommendations from several member associations”.

The dates were moved after the earlier ones had clashed with the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) top-tier club competitions, which also involves the top players, sparking fear that the Asean tournament, also known as the Mitsubishi Electric Cup, would feature under-strength national teams.

The new schedule will see Singapore play their Group A matches against Cambodia on Dec 11 (home), Brunei or Timor-Leste on Dec 14 (away), Thailand on Dec 17 (home) and Malaysia on Dec 20 (away). The two-legged semi-finals are on Dec 26 and 29 or Dec 27 and 30. The two-legged finals are on Jan 2 and 5.

The Straits Times reported in March that the original schedule clashed with the AFC’s new club competitions – the top-tier AFC Champions League (ACL) Elite and the AFC Champions League 2.

ACL Elite games from Nov 25-27 and Dec 2-4 feature the continent’s top clubs such as Malaysia Super League winners Johor Darul Takzim and Thai League 1 champions Buriram United.

Similarly, matches for the ACL 2 from Nov 26-28 and Dec 3-5 involve teams from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Singapore, who will be represented by Lion City Sailors and BG Tampines Rovers.

Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei and Timor-Leste were not affected as their clubs play in the new third-tier AFC Challenge League, which does not clash with the Asean Cup, whose Oct 5-15 qualification round involving Brunei and Timor-Leste remains unchanged.

With the rescheduling, Tampines chairman Desmond Ong has pledged his support to release his players for international duty.

He said: “Where possible, we will always support the national team whether it is with the release of our coaches or players to help the Lions’ cause. 

“Similarly, as long as the fitness of our players permits and the national coach picks them, we will look forward to doing so for the Asean Mitsubishi Electric Cup as the dates will no longer clash with the AFC club competitions.”

However, as the Asean Cup is played outside the Fifa international window, clubs are not obligated to release their players for the tournament, which means the region’s top stars could still miss out.

This happened during the 2022 edition, when Thailand were without Buriram attackers Supachai Chaided and Suphanat Mueanta.

There could also be issues with centralised training camps if they are just before the Dec 8 kick-off as they would still clash with the AFC club dates. The third match day of the AFF’s Asean Club Championship group stage also starts on Jan 8, three days after the Asean Cup final.

Lions and Sailors captain Hariss Harun said: “The latest development increases the opportunity of the top players from each country featuring in the competition, and it should be good news for the national team coaches.

“But we have to remember it is a long season for Singaporean clubs, while regional clubs also could be fighting on various fronts and are not obligated to release players for the national teams. As players, we want to play in every game... but this may not be possible because it is exhausting physically and mentally in a long season. We will do our best when called upon, but the clubs will have the final say and the football associations will have to find middle ground with them.”

When contacted, the Football Association of Singapore said it had expressed to the AFF its concerns on the operational, logistical and scheduling issues brought about by the earlier dates, adding that the Asean Cup’s new dates would mean that the Singapore Premier League would require a mid-season break to allow national players to be released.

“These changes will be worked through following consultation with stakeholders and be released to all as soon as possible,” it added.