The AFF Cup will be held in July.

Today, January 15th, the organizing committee conducted the draw for the group stage and scheduled the matches for the AFF Cup 2026.

The draw for the group stage and match schedule of the 2026 Southeast Asian Football Championship – ASEAN Cup 2026 (AFF Cup) will be held at 4 PM on January 15th in Jakarta (Indonesia), officially launching the region's most prestigious tournament for national teams.

A total of 10 Southeast Asian teams will participate, with 9 teams – Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam – divided into two groups in the final round. The remaining spot will be determined through the qualifying round between Brunei and Timor Leste.

The seeding is based on the average performance of the two most recent tournaments. Accordingly, Vietnam and Thailand – the champions and runners-up of the ASEAN Cup 2024, respectively – are placed in Group 1 and will not be in the same group. Group 2 includes Malaysia and Singapore; Group 3 includes the Philippines and Indonesia; Group 4 includes Cambodia and Myanmar; while Group 5 includes Laos and the winner of the qualifying round between Brunei and Timor Leste.

Kim Sang Sik will continue his quest to conquer the AFF Cup 2026 (Photo: VFF)

The group stage of the 2026 AFF Cup will be played in a round-robin format, with each team playing four matches (two home, two away) between July 24th and August 8th. The top two teams in each group will advance to the semi-finals. The semi-finals and final will also be played in a two-legged format, taking place from August 15th to August 26th.

At the 2024 AFF Cup, the Vietnamese national team brilliantly triumphed after defeating Thailand with a total score of 5-3 over two legs of the final, thus winning the Southeast Asian championship for the third time in history. The tournament also made a strong impact in terms of media coverage, attracting over 541 million views across television and digital platforms, along with nearly 13 billion views of related content on social media.

The AFF 2026 will take place from July 24th to August 26th, 2026, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the tournament's founding.

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/aff-cup-se-to-chuc-vao-thang-7.html