US$1 million carrot awaits winners of inaugural Fifa Asean Cup

SINGAPORE – The winners of the inaugural Fifa Asean Cup can expect to receive US$1 million (S$1.28 million) in prize money from football’s world governing body.

That is more than three times the US$300,000 which the Asean Football Federation (AFF) awarded Vietnam for winning the 2024 Asean Championship.

On Oct 26, 2025, FIFA president Gianni Infantino had announced the launch of the new tournament for 11 South-east Asian teams on the sidelines of the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur.

Five months later, FIFA said in a statement that the competition will be played in the Sept 21-Oct 6, 2026 international window, but details were still lacking.

At a FIFA congress in Vancouver, Canada, on April 30, it gave more clarity through the circulation to participating countries of some slides, which seemed to confirm speculation that the Asean Cup will be a two-division event featuring 14 teams.

Documents seen by The Straits Times showed that the proposed format will see eight teams split into two groups in Division 1, with another six teams divided into two groups in Division 2.

Matches from one group in Division 1 will be played in Indonesia, with the other venue yet to be confirmed, while all Division 2 games will take place in Hong Kong.

Other than Hong Kong, there is speculation that China and India will also be invited. World rankings are likely to determine the composition of each division, making a promotion-relegation system unlikely.

Based on current world rankings, this means Division 1 will comprise world No. 93 Thailand, China (94), Vietnam (99) Indonesia (122), the Philippines (135), India (136), Malaysia (138) and Singapore (147).

Hong Kong (155), Myanmar (158), Cambodia (177), Laos (185), Brunei (193) and Timor-Leste (200) will make up Division 2.

There will not be any semi-finals after the round-robin games. Instead, the group winners will play against each other to determine each division’s champions, while the runners-up will face off for third and fourth spots, meaning each team will play two to four matches.

Every team can expect to be guaranteed a US$125,000 participation fee and can also earn bonuses for each win or draw.

A grand prize of US$1 million awaits the Division 1 champions, while the Division 2 winners will receive US$300,000. Including rewards for runners-up and third-place finishers, the prize purse is expected to exceed US$4 million.

With FIFA expected to formalise its Asean Cup and share further details by June 1, the Lions look set for a jam-packed build-up to the Jan 7-Feb 5, 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia, after securing maiden qualification last November. They had also played in the 1984 edition as hosts.

They will play friendlies with 187th-ranked Mongolia and China at the Jalan Besar Stadium on May 31 and June 5 respectively.

Following that, they will do battle in the July 24-Aug 26 Asean Championship.

The Lions have been drawn into Group A where they will take on Cambodia (away, July 24), Brunei or Timor-Leste (home, July 27), Vietnam (away, July 31) and Indonesia (home, Aug 7).

Singapore, who lost to Vietnam in the semi-finals of the 2024 Asean Championship, will then feature in the Fifa Asean Cup in September and October before their final Asian Cup preparations in November and December.

Lions captain Hariss Harun called FIFA’s endorsement of South-east Asian football a “huge deal”.

He noted that it could ensure the participation of the region’s top players, which would raise the level of competition and help Singapore’s Asian Cup preparations.

The 35-year-old added: “This could go a long way for football in this region. More recently, when more Asean players went on to play in Europe or in the bigger leagues, the tournament began to be deprived of the best players. Maybe the Fifa Asean Cup will allow the best of the best to be involved.”

However, not everyone in the local football fraternity is convinced the new event will be a hit.

Football consultant and former youth coach Khairul Asyraf said: “FIFA needs to be sure of what it is doing. If the speculation is true, it looks like a random getting-together of teams because, with almost 3.5 billion people, their countries form a substantial proportion of the global population who are not at the World Cup.

“This looks more like a third-tier tournament trying to accommodate teams and creating a platform for them to compete, and possibly for FIFA to monetise the Chinese, Indian and Asean markets.

“It looks like FIFA has a dilemma because if they include only Asean teams, it will look just like the AFF Asean Championship. But with China, India and Hong Kong, I’m not sure how much rivalry will be felt among the teams.

“As it is, budgets for football associations in the region are stretched. The Fifa Asean Cup prize money is not that substantial compared to the cost of preparation, so it looks to me like a redundancy for now.”

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