Kuala Lumpur City FC captain Josué targets victory as Shopee Cup™ returns

Singapore, 7 January 2025: The inaugural ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ makes its highly anticipated return this week after a three-month hiatus with captain Paulo Josué aiming to move Kuala Lumpur City FC a step closer to April’s semi-finals when the Malaysian club take on Lion City Sailors FC.

Kuala Lumpur City have picked up a perfect six points from their opening Group B games against Kaya FC-Iloilo and Borneo FC Samarinda. The club will travel to Singapore on Thursday to face Aleksandar Rankovic’s winless side eying a third victory in a row.

“This tournament must be the main target for our season,” the Brazil-born Malaysia international said. “We might face tough teams but anything can happen.

“There are big clubs from their countries but they don’t know us and we don’t know much about them. They’re big teams in their countries so something special can happen in these kinds of games.

“We need to take our opportunities in the Shopee Cup™, to play even more and to try to go through to the semi-final.

“We are a little bit away from qualification, but if we manage to beat Lion City Sailors and gain a point against Công An Hà Nội FC on January 23 then I think we will qualify.”

Công An Hà Nội currently lead Group B on goal-difference from Kuala Lumpur City with Thai League One champions Buriram United FC in third as the competition resumes for the remaining three rounds of group matches over the coming four weeks.

The Vietnamese team travel to Manila to face a Kaya FC-Iloilo side seeking their first point of the campaign while Buriram take on Borneo FC with the pair locked together on three points, the Thais leading due to a better goal difference.

The top two finishers in each of the six-team groups advance to the semi-finals, which will be played on a home-and-away basis on April 2 and 30 while the final will be held on May 14 and 21.

Both groups remain finely poised after the opening rounds, with Indonesia’s PSM Makassar topping Group A on goal difference from BG Pathum United FC from Thailand and Vietnam’s Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC.

PSM Makassar travel to Cambodia on Wednesday to play Pep Munoz’s PKR Svay Rieng FC, who trail their visitors by a point having picked up a 3-2 win over Terengganu FC in the opening round to put themselves in contention for a semi-final berth.

Terengganu go to Myanmar to face Shan United FC, the only team in the group yet to pick up a point, while second-placed BG Pathum United host Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC in one of the most anticipated matches of the third round.

“When we face clubs from other countries, like Buriram United or Lion City Sailors, it’s one game only in the group phase, so something can happen if we perform with a well-disciplined game,” Josué said of the unpredictable nature of the Shopee Cup™.

“We see it all around the world, some small clubs always manage to play good games against the bigger clubs. Something always happens, that’s why it’s good to play in these competitions to have this opportunity. It’s good for us and the opponent.”

The six Shopee Cup™ matches on January 8^th and 9^th will be broadcast LIVE on domestic television networks and streaming platforms listed below.

BRU – BRUNEI, CAM – CAMBODIA, INA – INDONESIA, LAO – LAOS, MAS – MALAYSIA, MYA – MYANMAR, PHI – PHILIPPINES, SIN – SINGAPORE, THA – THAILAND, VIE – VIETNAM

The Shopee Cup™ matches will also be broadcast live in China on Leisu Sports and in Korea on SPOTV, and on @aseanutdfc in select ASEAN territories and the rest of the world.

Match tickets are available on sale at each home club’s stadium box office and online. 

For more information about the Shopee Cup™, please visit https://aseanutdfc.com/ and @aseanutdfc on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and X.

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