Thailand team
Thailand is the current champion and the most successful team in the AFF Cup with 7 titles. Thailand national team coach Masatada Ishii has confirmed the list of players participating in the AFF Cup 2024 which will take place from December 8, 2024 to January 5, 2025.
Masatada Ishii has called up 26 players for the 2024 AFF Cup but has excluded three stars including Chanathip Songkrasin, Teerasil Dangda and Theerathon Bunmathan. Thailand is also without Supachai Jaided, the top scorer in the Thai League last season with 21 goals.
Thailand will also be without Bali United defender Elias Dolah. Without these five key players, the Thai team will rely on names like Supachok Sarachat, who plays for Consodale Sapporo, and Ekanit Panya, who plays for Urawa Reds in Japan.
The team nicknamed the War Elephants will also place high hopes on Nicholas Mickelson, a Norwegian-born defender who plays for Odense Boldklub.
Overall, the Thai team is still the brightest candidate for the 2024 AFF Cup championship, with even strength and a lot of experience in this playground.
Malaysia Team
The strength of the Malaysian team in the AFF Cup 2024 cannot be underestimated. They won the championship trophy in this tournament in 2010 when defeating the Indonesian team.
Malaysia has a squad with an average age of 26.4 years. However, Malaysia is facing a less than ideal situation in terms of squad selection, with clubs divided over whether to include their players in the national team.
Looking at the current squad, Harimau Malaya will rely on regular names in their senior squad such as Syihan Hazmi, Feroz Baharudin, Dion Cools, Matthew Davies, Arif Aiman and main striker Safawi Rashid.
To prepare for the AFF Cup, the Malaysian team won the Merdeka Cup at home. They also actively played friendly matches with New Zealand, Laos, and India to review the squad.
Indonesia team
The Indonesian team has finished second in the AFF Cup six times, so the championship is a goal they are very eager to achieve. However, because the AFF Cup 2024 is not part of the FIFA system, they cannot gather their strongest force.
The Indonesian team will field a squad consisting mainly of young players for the 2024 AFF Cup. Of the 33 Indonesian players called up by Shin Tae-yong for the tournament, most are under-22.
Mr. Shin Tae-yong only retained 8 players from the 3rd round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia to participate in the 2024 AFF Cup. They include: Muhammad Ferrari, Justin Hubner, Asnawi Mangkualam, Pratama Arhan, Ivar Jenner, Marselino Ferdinan, Hokky Caraka and Rafael Struick.
The team also called up young players, including 18-year-old Ikram Al Giffari and Sulthan Zaki. Even 17-year-old young striker Arkhan Kaka was called up.
Despite having a young squad, with remarkable progress in recent times, especially winning 6 points in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, the Indonesian team will be a very formidable name.
For the Vietnamese team in the past year, the team has lost 3 times to the Indonesian team in the World Cup qualifiers as well as the Asian Cup.
