Singapore, September 19, 2025: Selangor FC’s Katsuhito Kinoshi may be leading his team into the ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ for the first time, but the Japanese coach already appreciates the lure of Southeast Asia’s premier club competition after only one game in its second edition.
Kinoshi’s Malaysian Super League side pushed Shopee Cup™ title holders Buriram United FC all the way in their opening Group A clash at the Thunder Castle last month, before the teams shared the points in a 1-1 draw.
And after the drama of that opening round encounter, Kinoshi is relishing the next set of challenges that await his Red Giants side, beginning with their Matchday Two meeting against Singapore’s Tampines Rovers FC at MPBJ Stadium on Wednesday (9pm kick-off local time).
“The Shopee Cup™ for us is a very big opportunity to have good matches against clubs from other countries,” says Kinoshi. “We are participating in the AFC Champions League Two, but that’s the AFC Champions League Two not the AFC Champions League Elite.
“If we participate in the Shopee Cup™ we can have matches against teams that are competing in the AFC Champions League Elite. We’ve already played Buriram United and there are other clubs in the AFC Champions League Elite.
“This experience makes us – the club, the coach, the players, the staff – stronger, because if you’re only participating in the domestic league, you don’t have the chance to go to the other countries to have an official match, and this is the point.
“To get results in the Shopee Cup™ is one target but our strategy is to participate in these kinds of tournaments. Last year we were second in the Malaysia Super League and we won the Challenge Cup, and this has brought us to the Shopee Cup™.”
Selangor stunned the champions when Brazilian forward Chrigor put the visitors ahead in the first half in Thailand and, although Peter Žulj levelled for Osmar Loss’ team deep into stoppage time, Kinoshi believes the performance will have given his squad a major boost.
“Everybody expected Buriram would win,” says Kinoshi. “In football, anything can happen. I told the players that that they should believe in themselves. We have many good players, and they should have confidence to play.
“We should not lose against the name of Buriram because on the pitch, everybody is equal. I told them not to worry about losing, I will take the responsibility. They should believe in their instinct and experience and that meant we could lead until the 95th minute.
“But it wasn’t perfect. And even if we had won 1-0, it would not have been perfect. The perfect game does not exist. We should never be satisfied even though we had a good result against Buriram United in the Shopee Cup™.”
As a first experience of the Shopee Cup™ for both Kinoshi and Selangor, the meeting with Buriram United was a positive one and the coach is setting his sights on playing in the competition for as long as possible.
“Our target is not only to win, but to create a good team,” he says. “To be a good coach, to be good players and it’s difficult. We must train and we must try to conquer this sort of situation.
“I’m very excited to have these kinds of difficult matches. I’m not afraid to lose, but I’m very afraid to play a match without 100 percent preparation or belief. We have to show 100 percent effort, to fight and show our strategy and attitude on the pitch. This is my target.
“In the Shopee Cup™, I want to have as many matches as possible, to have matches against different kinds of opponents. We need to know where we are to know the next step.”
Moving steadily forward is a trait that has defined Kinoshi’s career to date, even if it has taken time for him to move into the role of a head coach.
The position with Selangor is Kinoshi’s first at the helm of a team after spending his earlier career as a fitness coach before graduating to become an assistant under legendary former Red Star Belgrade and Marseille playmaker, Dragan Stojković.
He first worked under the man known as Piksi at Nagoya Grampus before switching to the Chinese Super League to work alongside his mentor at Guangzhou R&F for five-and-a-half seasons.
Kinoshi was on the move again in 2021, this time to operate as Stojković’s assistant with the Serbia national team, where he remained until his departure to take over Selangor head coach in November last year.
“I’m influenced a lot by him and the most important thing is how to keep the mentality, to be a leader and how to show this to the players,” says Kinoshi. “But Piksi gave me a lot of experience, not only on the pitch but outside the pitch and especially when I was in Serbia.
“I worked in games against teams like Portugal and Denmark. These are the kind of opponents I used to watch on TV. Now I’m working in the real world against them. Cristiano Ronaldo is in front of me, Bernardo Silva, they are all our opponents.
“My job is not to watch them; it is how to beat them. This kind of thing makes me stronger.
“Piksi gave me a chance between international windows to go everywhere in Europe to watch training and to exchange opinions with other coaches.
“I’ve been to Porto, Ajax, Lazio, PAOK, Sevilla, many clubs, to watch the training and exchange ideas. This makes me very comfortable. This means I can have confidence in myself to be a head coach. My wish was to be a head coach.”
That desire came true when Kinoshi was approached by Selangor to replace Nidzam Jamil during the 2024-25 Malaysia Super League campaign, and the Tokyo native is relishing the opportunity at one of Southeast Asia’s most storied and popular clubs.
“It’s a big club with big expectations, big history,” he says of his current employers. “I’m 60 years old and I think this is my last chance to start as a head coach in my career. Someone asked me why I take this kind of risk, but it’s not a risk. It’s an opportunity.”
For Shopee Cup™ Matchday Two fixtures, please visit https://aseanutdfc.com/asean-club-championship and @aseanutdfc on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, X and LinkedIn.
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