Newly appointed Lions national coach Tsutumo Ogura will have a huge problem on his hands, unless the ASEAN Football Federation gets its act together.
On 29 February 2024, the AFF announced that the biennial tournament, previously known as the Tiger Cup, Suzuki Cup and Mitsubishi Electric Cup will be renamed the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup™ 2024 and will be held from 23 November to 21 December.
The problem with the dates is that Singapore’s Lion City Sailors will be participating in the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Champions League 2, part of the newly revamped club competition for the continent being organised by the Asian football body.
The group stages of the AFC elite club competitions to stretch from September to December.
TMSG had written about this in a previous post.
“As more than half of the Sailors’ first team could be NT players, the current situation could place Singapore and the Sailors in a highly disadvantageous position as compared to other ASEAN nations and Asian ACL2 clubs,” said a Sailors’ spokesperson in response to TMSG.
“This issue could also affect other ASEAN nations with their clubs playing in ACL2 as well.
“We hope AFF and the relevant local federations can find a way to mitigate this.”
NOT JUST SAILORS BUT MAYBE TAMPINES ROVERS AS WELL
Apart from Lion City Sailors, Tampines Rovers also have a chance of making the group stages if they get past the playoff rounds.
Which means that either the clubs will have to forgo their club commitments in lieu of national commitments, or have Ogura select a totally different set of players for the Lions.
Which may not be an awkward decision, given that the ASEAN Cup falls outside of the FIFA match days.
The reality is that clubs are not obliged to release their players for the tournament.
And given the situation that the Sailors (and possibly Tampines) find themselves in, having players like Hariss Harun, Lionel Tan, Shawal Anuar and the rest reject the national call-up for the ASEAN Cup may be on the cards.
“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,” said the Sailors spokesperson.
“Doing well and making a deep run into the tournament’s knockout stages is important not just for the club and our fans, but also for Singapore’s position in the AFC coefficient where results will determine our country’s qualifying spots for AFC club competitions in the future.”
The AFF needs to stick its head out of its isolationist shell, and smell the reality.
PHOTOS: AFF, STRAITS TIMES