Asean championship's schedule clash with Asian club competitions will hurt Lions

Source: The Straits Times
Author: David Lee

SINGAPORE - Even before a ball has been kicked, Singapore's prospects at the 2024 Asean Football Federation (AFF) Championship looks to have taken a big hit, with the tournament dates set to spark a club versus country tussle.

On Feb 29, the AFF announced that the 10-team tournament, which has been named Asean Mitsubishi Electric Cup, will be held from Nov 23 to Dec 21. This will clash with the Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) new club competitions - the top-tier AFC Champions League (ACL) Elite and the AFC Champions League 2.

The ACL Elite, which has match days from Nov 25-27 and Dec 2-4, comprises the continent's top clubs such as Malaysia Super League winners Johor Darul Takzim and the champions of the ongoing Thai League 1.

The ACL 2, which will see action from Nov 26-28 and Dec 3-5, involves teams from Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Singapore, who will be represented by Lion City Sailors. Fellow Singapore Premier League side Tampines Rovers and the eventual winners of Indonesia's Liga 1 may also qualify via play-offs.

The other countries Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei and Timor-Leste are unlikely to be affected as their clubs play in the new third-tier AFC Challenge League, which does not clash with the Asean Cup.

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

This happened during the 2022 edition, when Thailand were without the services of Buriram's attacking duo Supachai Chaided and Suphanat Muenta.

National skipper Hariss Harun noted that the Lions, who were knocked out at the group stage in the last edition, would be more affected than their neighbours as Singapore has a smaller talent pool.

The 33-year-old, who also plays for the Sailors, said: "The Asean championship is a realistic stage for the national team to show the changes and improvements we are making with the new national coach (Tsutomu Ogura).

"But having said that, it is also very important to do well in the ACL2 to take Singapore up the AFC club competition ranking. The players want to give our best for both competitions, and I just hope there is a way the authorities can make things work. The most ideal scenario is that we don't have to miss either competition."

A Sailors spokesman echoed the same sentiment, as doing well in the ACL 2 is important for Singapore to gain more coefficient points which will determine the country's qualifying spots for future AFC club competitions.

He said: "While we recognise the significance of the Asean Mitsubishi Electric Cup for Singapore and our national players, our ACL2 participation is something that the club takes seriously.

"As more than half of the Sailors' first team could be national team players (10 out of the 24 Lions in the last call-up were from the Sailors), the current situation could place Singapore and the Sailors in a highly disadvantageous position as compared to other Asean nations and clubs."