Buriram United FC’s new goalkeeping recruit Neil Etheridge is no stranger to making history, and the former Premier League star is relishing the dawn of a new era in Southeast Asian football with the group stage of the ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ kicking-off on August 21st.
Etheridge, also a member of the Philippines national team, became the first player from the region to play in the world’s most popular football league when he played in goal for Cardiff City FC on the club’s return to English football’s topflight in August 2018, famously saving penalties in his first two appearances in the competition.
And now, the Philippines captain, who was named Cardiff City’s 2018-19 player of the year before a four-year spell with Birmingham City FC, will be running out in ASEAN’s leading club competition after signing a two-year contract with the Thai League 1 champions.
“I think it’s going to be fantastic,” Etheridge says of the Shopee Cup™. “It’s brand new and it’s going to be exciting for us to be involved in it. I think with it being new, and with the teams in it, it’s going to be professionally run and will be very competitive.”
The 34-year-old has joined a Buriram United side that has established itself among the strongest in the region, winning three consecutive Thai League 1 titles while also featuring regularly in the group stages of the AFC Champions League.
Etheridge and his Buriram United teammates have been handed a challenging draw in Group B of the Shopee Cup™ and will kick-off their campaign against Vietnam’s Công An Hà Nội FC on August 22nd.
The Thai side will then face Kuala Lumpur City FC of Malaysia, Borneo FC from Indonesia, Philippines champions Kaya-Iloilo FC and Lion City Sailors FC of the Singapore Premier League on a home-or-away basis in the group phase.
“For me it’s going to be a very good competition to add games to the roster,” says Etheridge. “It’s going to be like the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup™, which is a competition I’ve played in before but not for a long period of time.
“I know the (Buriram United) president (Newin Chidchob) is looking forward to it and so are the players. It adds a few more games to the schedule and a lot more travelling. The players are embracing it and we know it’s a competition we want to be extremely competitive in.
“The Shopee Cup™ will be an extremely competitive tournament for ASEAN.”
While Etheridge’s Buriram United have been drawn in Group B in the inaugural edition of the competition, Group A also features a stellar cast of the region’s leading clubs.
BG Pathum United FC of Thailand, Terengganu FC from Malaysia, Indonesia’s PSM Makassar, Vietnamese side Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC, Cambodian champions Svay Rieng FC and Shan United FC of Myanmar will face off against one another from August 21st.
Group matches will run until February 6, with the top two finishers in each group advancing to the knockout rounds. The semi-finals will be played over two home-and away legs on April 2nd and 30th with the final held on May 14th and 21st.
The Shopee Cup™ season 2024/25 match schedule updated with kick-off times and venues is attached.
For more information about the Shopee Cup™(and other AFF events), please visit https://aseanutdfc.com/ and @aseanutdfc on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and X.
