Teams at AFF Cup 2024 are gradually losing good players because of... domestic clubs

AFF Cup in trouble

Most recently, according to the Thai press, in the group stage of the AFF Cup 2024, 3 key players of the national team including Suphanat Mueanta, Pansa Hemviboon and Seksan Ratree must return to Buriram United Club. The reason is that the leadership of Buriram United Club wants these 3 players to play against Mahasarakham team in the round of 32 of the Thai FA Cup taking place at 7:00 p.m. on December 18. After that, they can also play in the Thai League 1 make-up match against Muangthong United on December 22. Thus, Suphanat Mueanta, Pansa Hemviboon and Seksan Ratree will be absent from the Thailand-Cambodia match on December 20 in the final round of Group A. They are also leaving open the possibility of continuing to participate in the AFF Cup or not.

Suphanat (10) had to leave the Thai national team to serve Buriram United Club.

Previously, in the match against Thailand on December 14, the Malaysian team also experienced a similar situation, when up to 6 players had to return to their clubs, causing a disruption in the lineup and causing the home team to lose 0-1. The Indonesian team also encountered this problem before the AFF Cup 2024 took place, when only 3 key naturalized players were named in the tournament list: Justin Hubner, Ivar Jenner and Rafael Struick. However, entering the tournament, the Indonesian team only had the service of Rafael Struick, the remaining two players had not been released by the clubs. This forced coach Shin Tae-yong to use a lineup that was mostly U.21 players.

The reason for this is that the AFF Cup is not included in the FIFA Days calendar, so clubs are not obliged to release players to the national team. Most of the important players called up must have an agreement between the club and the federation. Previously, when teams in the region were "bloodthirsty" for the AFF Cup title, they would do everything they could to call up their best players to participate in the tournament, even though the match schedule often fell at the end of the year, not in the FIFA Days calendar. However, now clubs from countries like Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia all rely on FIFA rules to implement, and football federations cannot interfere.

These problems are causing the AFF Cup 2024 to gradually lose its appeal to audiences and especially the tournament's professional quality. Even regional football fans no longer really pay attention to the results of their home team, because to them, it is not the official representative team of the country participating in the tournament.

Perhaps the ASEAN Football Federation should consider organizing the tournament in the summer, right on FIFA Days, so that teams can gather the best players, as well as help teams achieve maximum points on the FIFA rankings. This will help the AFF Cup become more attractive, attract more spectators and be true to the meaning of the football festival of the Southeast Asian region.

In Group A, after 3 consecutive wins, the Thai team has already secured the first ticket to the semi-finals. The remaining ticket is a competition between the teams of Singapore, Cambodia and Malaysia. The Singapore team has many advantages with 6 points in hand, only needs to draw with Malaysia in the last round to continue. The Malaysian and Cambodian teams are both in a situation where they must win to have a chance to enter the semi-finals.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cac-doi-tai-aff-cup-2024-mat-dan-cau-thu-gioi-vi-clb-trong-nuoc-185241218224000612.htm