BG Pathum United’s Hudson sets sights on victory in ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ semi-final clash against Buriram United

SINGAPORE (21 March 2025) – BG Pathum United will go into their ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ semi-final against Thai League 1 rivals Buriram United next month with their recently appointed head coach Anthony Hudson insisting his team will not be overawed by their high-flying opponents.

The all-Thailand clash sees Hudson’s side take on a club that is chasing a fourth consecutive Thai league title and has also qualified for the last eight of the AFC Champions League Elite.

BG Pathum United, meanwhile, are third in the domestic league, 13 points behind Osmar Loss’ team having played one game more, and Hudson is expecting a challenging encounter across two legs for the team he joined little more than a month ago.

“The Shopee Cup™ is a tournament we want to win, so we’ll be going into the semi-final with that in mind,” says Hudson. “Every cup we’re in now we want to win.

“It will be a complicated test. Buriram have quality, physicality and athleticism and they’re a very effective team. I learnt a lot playing against them in the Thai League Cup game at their place. That’s a positive for me going into this semi-final.

“They’re miles ahead of us in the league but I don’t want us to go into these games any other way than feeling confident and trying to win the game.”

Buriram United won the most recent meeting between the teams, notching up a 3-1 victory in the Thai League Cup in late February in one of Hudson’s first matches in charge.

Since then, however, BG Pathum United have won three games in a row in Thai League 1 and the former Bahrain and New Zealand boss believes he has seen steady improvements from his team.

“We’re trying to be more effective in front of goal,” says the 44-year-old. “There are certainly things that we’re after with our attack, with our forward runs, playing forward more and playing through the lines. We’re being more positive with the ball.

“Without the ball it’s been a major focus since the first week, just making sure that we’re a lot more compact.

“I felt when I came in that we were quite open and quite easy to play through, so we’ve focused on being a bit more compact and just getting clear on how we deal with pressure from an opponent.

“Bit-by-bit we’re trying to develop how we play and get to know the players. It’s a really good group, an honest group of players with good young players coming through. It’s been good.”

Hudson’s first experience of the Shopee Cup™ came when he led BG Pathum United to a dramatic 4-3 win over Terengganu FC in the final round of group matches, and he recognises the value of the competition to the development of the club game within Southeast Asia.

“I think it’s really important on many levels,” he says. “Financially it helps the clubs and the experience of playing against foreign teams is always helpful in terms of developing the team and the development of the players.

“And it’s another opportunity to win a medal. I just think it’s positive all around for clubs in the region.”

BG Pathum United will travel to Buriram Stadium for the first leg of the all-Thai semi-final on April 2nd and host the return game at Pathum Thani Stadium.

The other semi-final features Indonesian side PSM Makassar and Vietnam’s Công An Hà Nội, who won all five of their games during the group stage.

The winners of the semi-finals will advance to the inaugural Shopee Cup™ final, which will be played over two legs on 14 and 21 May.

The Shopee Cup™ is the first regional club competition, which brings together the leading clubs from across Southeast Asia.

Catch all the news and information about the Shopee Cup™ on https://aseanutdfc.com/ and @aseanutdfc on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and X.