New Delhi: India has been drawn into Group A of Division 1, or the Premier Division, for the inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026, following the official draw held on Wednesday. The Blue Tigers will face Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in the group stage games.
Group B consists of Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines.
The tournament is scheduled to take place during the official FIFA International Friendly window from 21 September to 6 October. As it falls within this official window, clubs are required to release their players, giving teams full-strength squads.
The competition features 14 teams split into two distinct tiers based on FIFA rankings. While Division 1 will be hosted in Indonesia, Division 2 (Challenge Division) will be hosted in Hong Kong. There are six teams in the second division, with Hong Kong, Myanmar and Brunei Darussalam in Group A and Cambodia, Laos and Timor-Leste in Group B.
‘FIFA continues to show support’
FIFA President Gianni Infantino officially launched the FIFA ASEAN Cup on 26 October last year during the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The tournament was unveiled alongside a renewed five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between FIFA and ASEAN, focusing on regional sports development, youth engagement, and infrastructure funding.
“The new agreement between FIFA and ASEAN will ensure that both organisations can help make a difference by using football as a vehicle that brings hope and joy to millions of children and young people across Southeast Asia,” Infantino said. “This partnership will help to drive positive football development, social progress and the promotion of healthy lifestyles all across the region.”
The tournament was introduced to elevate football in Southeast Asia by providing high-quality, competitive international matches. Unlike older regional tournaments, like the ASEAN Championship (currently sponsored as the ASEAN Hyundai Cup), it is recognised as an official FIFA event, directly impacting a country’s official FIFA World Rankings.
“FIFA is delighted to continue to show its support to the ASEAN community with the launch of the FIFA ASEAN Cup,” the FIFA President said. “This will be a great addition to the regional football calendar, it will be impactful not only in the region, but it will allow the best players in the ASEAN region to shine on the global stage. Through the FIFA ASEAN Cup, we are uniting countries together, and this competition will be a huge success as 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 FIFA-ASEAN MoU aims to use football to drive social development, education, and inclusivity while raising the professional and competitive standards of Southeast Asian football on the global stage.
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‘You organise World Cup for whole world’
The FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026 comes just after the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which featured a historic expansion to 48 teams hosted across the USA, Mexico, and Canada. As a result of the expansion, four countries—Cabo Verde, Curacao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan—made their historical first-time appearance at the world’s biggest football tournament.
“We started with 13 teams, after, 16, until in ’82 was the first time with 24 teams. ’98 (was) the first time with 32 teams. So, the evolution is (that) always more teams want to participate. And now I believe that 48 teams is the right number,” legendary coach Arsene Wenger told media persons. “It’s (just) less than 25% of 211 countries who are affiliated to FIFA. That means one team out of four has a chance to participate. That means still 75% of the teams are not there. And I count in there China, India – that’s 3 billion people, you know,” continued Mr Wenger.
Meanwhile, just after the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Infantino confirmed that FIFA will formally examine a proposal to further expand the men’s World Cup to 64 teams in the 2030 tournament.
“When you organise a World Cup, it’s important that you organise it for the whole world. It’s not just Europe and South America, but the entire world, effectively. Every nation should be able to dream of taking part in the World Cup,” The FIFA President told Swiss broadcaster Blue Sport. “If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving.”
With the FIFA ASEAN Cup kicking off and Infantino’s plans to increase the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams, India gets the best shot at the tournament. However, former Indian football team skipper Baichung Bhutia said that only the tournament’s expansion will not help India qualify.
“India will have a better chance to qualify if they increase from 48 to 64 (teams),” Bhutia told PTI. “But that doesn’t mean that the country need not do any work. We still have to get our system, structure, grassroots development right and produce more players, bring more kids to football.”