As the ASEAN Club Championship — officially known as 2025-26 Shopee Cup — returns for a new season, the tournament could not have delivered a bigger clash in the opening round.
The age-old rivalry between Malaysia and Singapore will be reignited on Thursday when their respective champions — Johor Darul Ta’zim and Lion City Sailors — lock horns at Sultan Ibrahim Stadium.
More than just a first official encounter involving the current best team in each country, there will also be added intrigue given both teams have transformed the landscape in their respective domestic competitions.
JDT have won the Malaysia Super League in the past 11 seasons. They regularly secure the title at a canter.
In the past four seasons, they have finished top by an average 15-point margin over the runners-up. In that time, they have won 83 out of 94 league games. Their last defeat in the MSL came in the 2021 season.
Quite simply, no one in Malaysia has been able to dream of coming close to the Southern Tigers and their dominance looks set to continue again this term, having began the new MSL campaign with 3-0 and 5-3 victories over Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.
It has reached a point where it is almost accepted now that JDT’s primary focus has shifted to bigger things.
They are determined to make waves on the continental stage. Progress has been steady but surprisingly slow. After finally making their debut in Asian football’s premier club competition — now known as the AFC Champions League Elite — in 2019, JDT have since reached the round of 16 twice. But never further.
And they are never willing to stand still.
Despite their consistent domestic success, JDT have made eight managerial changes since Tunku Ismail — the current regent and crown prince of Johor — became the owner of the club ahead of the 2016 season.
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The latest man at the helm is Xisco Muñoz, who had a creditable playing career featuring in LaLiga for teams like Valencia, Real Betis and Levante, and whose managerial record — despite him still being relatively young for a coach at 44 — has included a stint in the Premier League with Watford.
He will be expected to deliver all three major domestic trophies on offer. He has probably also been tasked with getting them further than they have been in the ACL Elite.
And he is also the first man that will get the chance to lead JDT to regional glory.
Having opted to sit out last season, JDT’s presence this term has immediately added even more glamour to the ASEAN Club Championship.
Their debut will see them come up against a team who have come close to replicating their success in Singapore.
The Sailors were founded in 2020 when former powerhouses Home United were bought over by billionaire Forrest Li and rebranded as an entirely new team.
They became the Singapore Premier League’s first fully-privatised club and were soon splashing the cash at previously-unseen proportions. They signed the league’s first multi-million dollar man and have since gone on to assemble a formidable side littered with players boasting established credentials.
The Sailors have not exactly dominated Singaporean football. Their coach Aleksandar Ranković stressed throughout last season that their main goal was to win the league given they had not done so in 2021.
They would go on to win it by a 12-point margin, and also claimed the Singapore Cup for good measure.
It was, however, on the continental stage where the Sailors really raised eyebrows.
Despite being largely unfancied, LCS would make a valiant charge to the final of the AFC Champions League Two — Asian football’s second tier competition.
Akin the JDT’s giant-killing feats in their earlier continental exploits, the Sailors would see off the likes of Zhejiang Professional, Port, Muangthong United, Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Sydney FC to become the first Singaporean club to reach a continental final.
In agonising fashion, they would lose the decider 2-1 to United Arab Emirates’ Sharjah, a team that had far more experience playing at continental level.
Given their hectic schedule, something had to give. In the end, it was in the ASEAN Club Championship where the Sailors failed to mirror their exploits elsewhere as they succumbed to a group-stage exit.
They will get a chance to make amends although the luck of the draw once again has not been kind to them. They start with back-to-back road trips and will play only two home games compared to three away.
Ranković alluded to it in Wednesday’s prematch news conference but also said “it’s not an excuse”.
Two teams that have conquered the domestic scene and have made waves on the continental stage now get a chance to become kings of the region.
The new season of the ASEAN Club Championship could not have begun with a bigger clash than Johor Darul Ta’zim vs. Lion City Sailors.
