Tampines Rovers' 2016 signing Jermaine Pennant said: I don't think it's going to be beneficial at all for Singapore football if the best players and the best teams are shipped off to a different league, I don't think the fans will appreciate it. His sentiments were shared by team-mate Afiq Yunos.[5]
Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, Crown Prince of Johor and chairman of Malaysian Super League club Johor Darul Takzim, said: "I don't agree with the ASL. I think we're [South-east Asian football] still young and we [should] focus on how it is done in Europe. For now, the Asian Champions League is the highest target. The ASL is not really my cup of tea."[6]
In April 2016, Buriram United's boss Newin Chidchob also said, "Quite simply, I don’t support the idea of an ASEAN Super League and I don’t think it works from either a competitive or organisational perspective. The business terms and the return on the investment are not good enough, I mean, they’re asking small clubs to pay US$5 million (S$6.7m), but how much can those clubs win in this proposed league?”[7]