FIFA President Infantino Announces New ASEAN Cup Tournament for Southeast Asian Nations

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has announced the launch of a brand-new football tournament for Southeast Asian nations — the FIFA ASEAN Cup — during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit held in Malaysia on Sunday.

Southeast Asia already hosts the ASEAN Championship, a biennial regional competition, with Vietnam crowned champions in the most recent edition in January. However, Infantino revealed that the newly introduced tournament would take place during FIFA’s international match windows, ensuring that players from clubs around the world will be available to represent their national teams.

“Through the FIFA ASEAN Cup, we are uniting countries together, and this competition will be a huge success,” said Infantino. “It will help boost national team football in the ASEAN region and will support the development of our sport across all of Southeast Asia.”

The announcement came just hours after East Timor was officially admitted as ASEAN’s 11th member nation. Infantino noted the symbolic timing, highlighting that “the number 11 is significant in the footballing world as each team has 11 players.”

Currently, Indonesia remains the only ASEAN nation to have advanced beyond the third round of continental qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

According to FIFA, the forthcoming tournament is expected to follow a structure similar to the Arab Cup. The world football governing body also confirmed that it would work closely with relevant stakeholders, including the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), before finalising the event’s format and other key details.