Pakistan head coach Nolberto Solano and captain Abdullah Iqbal said they were looking forward to the challenge as the Shaheens made their final preparations for their FIFA ASEAN Cup opener against Thailand on Friday.
The match, which will begin at 4:00pm (2:00pm PST) on Saturday, will be the first game for the Pakistan men’s football team in an official FIFA tournament with the event offering and opportunity for Solano’s men to compete against teams much higher than them in the FIFA rankings.
“We want to use this opportunity to test ourselves against teams like Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam,” Solano said at the pre-match press conference. “It’s an honour to be here and we know it will be a tough competition.”
Pakistan come into the tournament on a high after winning the Diamond Jubilee International Tournament in the Maldives back in June — their first standalone football tournament title in 74 years. The FIFA ASEAN Cup, though, will offer a sterner test.
“All our opponents will be very tough and they have fantastic players,” said Solano. “Asian football has been getting better and better so it is a big test for us. We are slowly growing, we try to go step by step. We will try to prove ourselves as a national team and see how far we can go in this competition.
For skipper Abdullah, the tournament is an opportunity for the players to step up. “It is a great opportunity for us to compete against teams at another level,” said Abdullah. “We will try to give our best.” Ahead of the press conference, Pakistan held an official training session with the squad having been joined by Azerbaijan-based defender Easah Suliman.
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The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has announced a 23-member Pakistan national team squad for the Fifa Asean Cup 2026 in Indonesia.
The squad brings together players travelling from Pakistan as well as members of the national team based abroad.
Head coach Nolberto Solano will lead the Shaheens as they compete in the inaugural Fifa Asean Cup, which brings together teams from across the ASEAN region.
The 23-member squad is:
Yousuf Butt
Hassan Ali
Saqib Hanif
Abdullah Shah
Abdul Rahman
Ali Khan
Ali Agha
Hayyan Khattak
Ali Uzair
Alamgir Ghazi
Ali Raza
Abdul Samad Arshad
Kaleem Ullah
Shayek Dost
Abdullah Iqbal
Easah Suliman
Mohib Ullah
Mamoon Khan
Mohd Fazal
Haris Zeb
Umer Nawaz
Abdul Samad
Ali Khan
The FIFA Asean Cup 2026 will give Pakistan an opportunity to compete on a new international platform and further strengthen its preparations against teams from the Asean region, the statement said.
The national side has been drawn into Group B of Division One of the inaugural Fifa Asean Cup 2026, where they will face Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The Fifa Asean Cup will be held from September 24 to October 5, with Division One matches scheduled to take place in Indonesia.
Pakistan will begin their campaign against Thailand on September 26 before taking on the Philippines on September 29. Their final group-stage fixture will be against Vietnam on October 2.
The final of Division One is scheduled for October 5.
The inaugural Fifa Asean Cup will feature 14 national teams, comprising all 11 Asean members and three guest teams. The competition has been divided into two divisions.
The tournament is being staged in Bandung and Jakarta in Indonesia, as well as Hong Kong, China.
According to Fifa, the tournament has been launched to provide national teams with meaningful competitive opportunities within the Men’s International Match Calendar while strengthening football ties across Southeast Asia and the wider region.
Fifa President Gianni Infantino said the competition would give players an opportunity to represent their countries in high-intensity regional rivalries and create new opportunities for fans to engage with international football.
For Pakistan, the tournament marks the men’s national team’s first participation in a Fifa tournament.
