AFF Cup 2026 challenges Vietnamese football

A series of changes in competition schedule, organization scale and selection methods from the Southeast Asian Football Federation pose challenges for Vietnamese football, if it still wants to retain its regional throne.

Unpredictable with AFF Cup 2026

The meeting of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Competition Committee on the afternoon of May 21 in Thailand could create a historic turning point, greatly affecting the football situation in the region. Accordingly, the AFF Cup 2026 - the 16th edition of the national football tournament of Southeast Asia in history - will be held at an unprecedented time.

Instead of taking place in the fall or winter like the previous 15 editions, from 1996 to 2014, the 2016 AFF Cup will be scheduled to take place in the summer, from July 25 to August 26, 2026. According to the majority of members of the Southeast Asian Football Federation, the professional seasons of countries in the region have undergone major changes, in sync with the organizational systems of Asia and Europe. Therefore, if the "traditional" competition schedule is maintained, that is, taking place at the end of the year, it will be difficult for the national teams to gather with optimal strength. The reason comes from the fierce reaction from the clubs, as the AFF Cup is not part of the official competition system of FIFA. This means that they have the right to refuse to "release" troops to the national teams, in order to ensure that the number of troops is sufficiently experienced during the boiling stage of the professional season.

AFF Cup 2026 will have major changes in the match schedule.

Obviously, with the idea of ​​organizing in the summer coming from the AFF Competition Committee, Thailand is the most supportive country. Over the past 10 years, the national team of the Golden Temple has always had a headache every time the AFF Cup took place. Because many strong clubs in the Thai League refused to support players for the "War Elephants". But with the organization schedule being moved back to mid-year, the AFF Cup will not be "trampled" too deeply into the Thai League organization time. Thanks to that, Pathum, Bangkok United or Buriram can be more open in letting their key players play for the Thai national team. The same story will also happen with other teams in the region such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar or Cambodia. As for Indonesia, this country's team will still be affected to a certain extent, if it still keeps the core force from Europe. Because the time frame from July 25 to August 26 is also when Western clubs start the new season.

Disadvantages for Vietnamese football

For its part, the change in the AFF Cup schedule... does not bring benefits to Vietnamese football. On the contrary, the "Golden Star Warriors" are even affected in an unfavorable way. The reason is that in previous AFF Cups, unlike many tournaments in the region, the Organizing Committee and V.League clubs always fully support the national team. For example, at the 2024 AFF Cup (the tournament in which the Vietnamese team won the championship), the V.League proactively played in September and October. Thanks to that, coach Kim Sang Sik and his team had the entire months of November and December 2024 and the first part of 2025 to focus all their efforts on the tournament. The clubs also fully supported the Vietnamese team's personnel. Striker Nguyen Xuan Son even successfully naturalized himself in time to be ready to compete from the last round of the group stage of the tournament.

In the context of being supported by V.League and opponents influenced by the respective national championship, the Vietnamese team benefited from both subjective and objective factors. Thanks to that, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team raced to the top spot. However, in the current context, the AFF Cup has been adjusted to be more suitable for many Southeast Asian countries. At that time, Thailand will obviously have more room to call up the optimal force. For Malaysia or Indonesia, outstanding talents in the domestic league will also be supported more by clubs on the way to the national team. Obviously, the Vietnamese team will face fiercer competition. The ability to successfully defend the championship of the "Golden Star Warriors" will therefore face many challenges.

Remember that at the AFF Cup 2020 and 2022 taking place in 2 consecutive years, 2021 and 2022 (due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic), when Thailand was able to summon the optimal force, with the prominent appearance of Chanathip Songkrasin and Theerathon Bunmathan, the Vietnamese team led by predecessor Park Hang-seo could not win the championship.

It is agreed that the change in the AFF Cup schedule will help the tournament attract more talented players. The ambitions of the teams will also be pushed to a higher level. However, with the competition being pushed to a high level, the Vietnam National Team will be at a disadvantage. After all, the height of the mountain measures the bravery. Hardship shows the hero. This is also the standard measure to evaluate the position of the Vietnam National Team on the Southeast Asian football map.

Remember, in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, Mr. Park's Vietnam also met Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. In the end, the "Golden Star Warriors" overcame all 3 teams to win a ticket to the final qualifying round of the continental World Cup. It should be emphasized that at that time, all 3 opponents in the region used their strongest squads!

V.League clubs face tight schedules

Also at the AFF Competition Committee meeting on May 21, the Southeast Asian Club Championship was expanded from 12 to 14 teams. According to the new plan approved by the AFF Competition Committee, the 2025/26 Southeast Asian Club Championship will also be updated with 5 stages: play-off round, group stage, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. Notably, the tournament will feature the strongest representatives from 10 Southeast Asian member countries. The play-off round is scheduled to take place on August 8, 2025. After that, the 14 teams will be divided into two groups, playing a round-robin from August 2025 to February 2026 with a total of 42 group stage matches. The top four teams in each group will advance to the quarter-finals.
The quarter-finals (February 26 and 27, 2026) and semi-finals (May 6 and 13, 2026) will be played in a two-legged knockout format (first and second legs). The two finals will also be played in a home-away format, scheduled for May 20 and 27, 2026.

Expanding the scale and adjusting the competition schedule will help the tournament increase its competitiveness, while contributing to promoting the development of professional football in the region. However, the criteria for selecting regional national representatives to participate has made V.League clubs somewhat hesitant. The reason is that the two champions of the V.League and the Vietnam National Cup will be selected to participate in the tournament. At the same time, these two champions will also represent Vietnam to compete in the AFC Champions League 2. Invisibly, these teams will have to stretch themselves on 4 fronts, including 2 international tournaments (AFC Champions League 2 and the Southeast Asian Club Championship) and 2 domestic tournaments (V.League, National Cup). That makes it easy for teams to fall into a state of overload, especially when the financial foundation when participating in these tournaments is difficult to meet the need to "feed" the troops.

The case of Thanh Hoa "failing" in the AFC Champions League 2 seasons ago, due to having to stretch themselves in the 4 above-mentioned fronts, is a typical example that Vietnamese football does not want to repeat.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/the-thao/aff-cup-2026-thu-thach-cho-bong-da-viet-nam-i769499/