Southeast Asia could be getting its biggest football tournament yet — and Indonesia is first in line to host it. PSSI Chairperson Erick Thohir confirmed this week that the Football Association of Indonesia is deep in talks with FIFA over staging the 2026 FIFA ASEAN Cup, with an official announcement potentially coming within the next fortnight.
"We are currently awaiting the outcome of FIFA's collaboration with us as the host nation," Thohir told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday. Hong Kong is expected to co-host the event alongside Indonesia, though the final structure hasn't been locked in.
What this tournament actually is
The FIFA ASEAN Cup isn't just rebranding for the sake of it. FIFA is explicitly modelling it on the FIFA Arab Cup — a regional competition used to sharpen national teams and infrastructure ahead of World Cups. It worked in the Middle East. Several African nations have followed the same template. Now FIFA wants to apply that logic to East and Southeast Asia, a market it's been aggressively courting for years.
Thohir framed it as exactly that: a quality-of-competition play ahead of future World Cups. With Indonesia having already qualified for the 2026 World Cup — the nation's first-ever appearance — the timing isn't coincidental. Hosting a major FIFA event on home soil in September and October would give the local setup a jolt of infrastructure investment and match-day experience that money alone can't manufacture.
President Prabowo Subianto has already written to FIFA President Gianni Infantino pledging government support, which removes one of the usual sticking points for tournament bids. That kind of top-level political backing tends to move things along.
What punters and fans should watch
If confirmed, expect Indonesia's odds across regional competitions to shorten — home-soil advantage in a FIFA-sanctioned tournament is a legitimate factor, not just national sentiment. The ASEAN football betting market would get a significant boost too, with a FIFA-branded event drawing far more attention than the AFF Championship typically commands internationally.
Thohir is optimistic. Whether FIFA moves on his timeline or drags it out is another matter — but the letter from the president is already on Infantino's desk.
