The upcoming international break forces a time of reflection on the future state of Asian international football. Weeks away from the reveal of AFC’s new international calendar, which is set to include their take on the Nations League format, the urge to replicate European ideas, continues to grow, while the Asian context is put to one side.
Sandwiched between a below par-FIFA World Cup, and the AFC Asian Cup showpiece in January, the role regional tournaments play in Asian football development will be under the microscope this fortnight, as two tournaments at opposite ends of the continent kick off, representing very different benefits and challenges.
As scrutiny increases, the AFC continue to devise and test continental-wide structures to bring the best out of Asian football. But is there a future to be had where these regional tournaments can contribute to the long-term growth working alongside more traditional competitions?
Two for the price of one in ASEAN
The long-talked-about, but hastily organised FIFA ASEAN Cup gets underway in Jakarta this Friday, following a build-up of high promise, grand ambition and more than a little organisational chaos.
Behind the scenes squabbles, false promises and high-profile withdrawals have provided a distracting backdrop to a tournament that has arrived mere weeks after its traditional ASEAN Championship cousin – to ease confusion, the Hyundai (former Suzuki) Cup – centring itself firmly amid the wider debate around FIFA’s increasing influence over the international game.
However we got here, the tournament will play out in a convoluted format, split across two tiers and four groups, involving multiple guest slots. Already a duplicative tournament, desperately seeking relevance amongst a crowded field, it’s unclear what problem the FIFA endeavour seeks to solve in the first place, let alone what future it has moving forward.
When it comes to the established structure, the pre-existing Hyundai Cup remains one of Asian football’s great regional success stories. It generates genuine interest, meaningful rivalries and, increasingly, a level of football that reflects progress being made across Southeast Asia.
Yet it has never fit particularly neatly into the modern international calendar. It traditionally runs outside FIFA’s designated windows, extends over an unusually long period for a regular international tournament, and as recent struggles attest, fails to secure the release of players plying their trade in Europe.
The latter points to a longer-term development problem; the more successful Southeast Asian football becomes at exporting players, the harder it can become for those players to return for regional competition. Ranking points and prize money matter too. So, FIFA’s intervention to introduce the ASEAN Cup can be presented as a solution to some issues; but does so by adding yet another competition into an already crowded space.
The Hyundai Cup succeeds as it is a regional competition with its own identity and priorities. FIFA’s alternative works according to a different hierarchy, one built around rankings, global commercial reach and a more standardised calendar, but it lacks the grassroots appeal it’s trying to maximise.
Southeast Asia remains one of the most football-obsessed parts of the continent, yet its impact at the very top of Asian football remains comparatively limited. The challenge of having to turn that enthusiasm and an improving player pool into sustained international progress, is one Asia itself has battled with for decades. It’s unlikely some sporadic FIFA cash can really take it to the next level.
But for now, for the likes of Vietnam, Thailand or Indonesia, regional supremacy remains one of the few immediately attainable measures of international success.
The Asian Cup and qualification to the World Cup remain the ultimate targets, but they are often treated as secondary objectives, requiring long-term planning and whole system buy in. The Hyundai Cup provides a regular competitive environment that can bring quick satisfaction but equally disappointment; reducing the capacity to build momentum.
When regional bragging rights are the most tangible short-term reward, it is hardly surprising that federations and coaches place considerable importance on them.
The new ASEAN Cup model risks either falling into this category, or skating off into irrelevance, as a glorified friendly tournament. Either way, the pursuit of growing Southeast Asian football, has instead materialised as perceived exploitation; leaving many to ask whether this can truly generate upward momentum for anyone involved.
The Gulf’s changing priorities
Around 5,000 miles to the west, another of Asia’s historic regional competitions is about to return this week, with the 27th Arabian Gulf Cup heading to Saudi Arabia. Its history, stretching back to the 1970s, cements its place considerably deeper than that of many newer regional competitions.
Yet the same modern challenges are increasingly apparent. Like the Hyundai Cup, the Gulf Cup has traditionally operated outside international windows, fitting itself around the domestic leagues of its participants. As investment has grown, particularly from Saudi Arabia, the priorities of the region’s leading nations, however, have subsequently broadened.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar in particular, having secured a loose foot hold in regular World Cup qualification of late, have started to look beyond the Gulf for international preparation, competition and ambition. Overseas friendlies, guest appearances and participation at alternative continental tournaments such as the Copa America and Gold Cup have offered a route towards the sort of opposition they ultimately want to face, at times treating the Gulf Cup as a second-tier priority.
This leaves behind a different type of tournament, one lacking the ambition of the stronger sides in the region. Success for Bahrain and Oman in the last few editions demonstrates where the tournament matters, enabling a greater array of nations to secure regional success, but ultimately the question remains whether it can truly progress them to the next level on the continent.
These evolving priorities, in a much more connected footballing environment, only adds complexities to the Asian international calendar. The Gulf Football Federation has a stronger institutional grip on its region than many others, but even their region wasn’t immune from FIFA’s interjections.
In 2021, FIFA offered another approach, bringing West Asia and North Africa together to create a broader regional Arab Cup competition, with investment, visibility and, crucially, competition for nations that do not regularly get the opportunity to play at this level.
Palestine’s run to the quarter-finals in 2025 was a particularly powerful example of what such competitions can provide when executed well: exposure to stronger opposition, meaningful matches and a platform on which to build.
Its immediate success drew benefits from both sides of the regional tournament argument; bringing together a geographic identity in Arabian football, but also in breaking down confederation boundaries to improve the quality of football.
The initial sweet spot may well be a mirage, as different international teams aspire to different levels of footballing success, but it underlines the wider cultural impact in viewing international football through a regional lens.
More football, or better football?
FIFA’s influence over the Asian calendar adds complication but also opportunity, particularly with the next Asian Cup having moved to 2032, to accommodate the expanded FIFA Club World Cup.
A restructured international calendar could allow Asian teams to experience regional, continental and intercontinental football without constantly having to choose between them. That would, however, require a move away from short-term tournament thinking, while introducing a degree of cooperation and selflessness we have rarely seen before.
For too long, international development has been measured through the next competition: qualify for this, win that, prepare for the other. But national teams need continuity as much as they need matches.
Heading into the Gulf Cup this week, Saudi Arabia coach Georgios Donis provides a key example in this. Announced only weeks before the World Cup, he will have taken charge at three tournaments in just over half a year by the time the Asian Cup concludes in early 2027. Heightened entertainment for fans yes, but how can methodical recalibration occur under such pressures?
The opportunities for competitive football are already plentiful. The opportunity to build cohesion, establish an identity and properly develop a team is considerably less so. The addition of a Nations League concept, a bland, copy-cat tournament, that promises less meaningless friendlies, and more do-or-die clashes, only compounds this issue.
Asia does not need any more reasons to play international football, it needs a clearer rationale for each tournament to exist.
The answer is not to sacrifice regional competitions, such as the Hyundai Cup, or the Gulf Cup, in the name of a cleaner calendar. Their value is precisely that they belong to the football cultures that created them. It is neither the answer necessarily to resist FIFA’s attempts to bring greater structure and commercial value to international football, only if it has a reasonable rationale in place; such as the opportunity for intercontinental competition.
The judgement requires a balance of cultural capital, new experiences and exposure to quality, to prioritise grassroots development over short-term income.
A continent of distinct regions will never play to a single footballing vision. Perhaps the next stage of Asian football is about accepting that and start building a calendar around it.
