ASEAN Cup takes place in the summer, a big challenge for the Vietnamese team

On the afternoon of November 14, the Southeast Asian Football Federation officially announced the schedule for the 2026 Southeast Asian Football Championship (ASEAN Cup). This schedule will allow teams such as Malaysia, Indonesia or the Philippines to call up their strongest forces because the tournament takes place when national championships in Europe are on hiatus.

The tournament, renamed ASEAN Hyundai Cup 2026, will be held from July 24 to August 26, 2026, shortly after the 2026 World Cup. The AFF announced: “The ASEAN Cup, the most prestigious event for Southeast Asian national teams, will celebrate its 30th anniversary next July. The 11 best teams in the ASEAN region will compete for the championship title.

The group stage, which will feature 10 teams, will run from July 24 to August 8, with all matches played in a round-robin format at various venues in Southeast Asia. The knockout stage will be played on a home-and-away basis, starting on August 15 and concluding on August 26.”

This is the biggest turning point in the 30th anniversary of the AFF/ASEAN Cup. The tournament was born in 1996 and after many successful events, it has become an indispensable spiritual food for Southeast Asian fans.

Indonesia and Thailand will call the optimal squad

The rescheduling is part of an effort to enhance the quality of the event. AFF President Khiev Sameth said: “The AFF Cup is Southeast Asia’s most prestigious international football tournament and we are delighted to confirm that the next edition will coincide with the 30th anniversary of the tournament – a significant milestone in the history of the tournament. We continue to work to elevate the tournament to a major international event and strengthen its legacy for decades to come.”

The AFF's efforts will help regional fans witness high-quality matches, as many players playing in Europe or top Asian football leagues will not have schedule conflicts between their home clubs and national teams.

They can return to participate without many constraints. Indonesia is confident that it can field a full naturalized squad with names like Mees Hilgers, Kevin Dijks, Jay Idzes, Ivan Jenner, Ole Romeny... while Malaysia, after eliminating 7 fraudulent naturalized players, still has Dion Cools, Richard Chin... Thailand has Nicholas Mickelson, Supachok Sarachat, Poramet Arjvirai and Jude Soonsup-Bell.

Gerrit Holtmann is also a formidable name that could appear in the ASEAN Cup.

Among the teams that benefit from the change in the schedule, the Philippines cannot be ignored. They can even bring to the tournament a top-class squad thanks to the presence of many stars such as Paul Tabinas, Gerrit Holtmann, Dylan Demuynck, Sebastian Rasmussen, Randy Schneider... These are all players who have been trained in leading football backgrounds and have a lot of combat experience. In particular, Gerrit Holtmann was a member of the German U20 team, scoring a total of 10 goals in the Bundesliga.

The advantage of a group of many “mercenaries” will be a disadvantage for more purely domestic teams such as Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Singapore, Cambodia. The reigning champion Vietnam does not have any players playing abroad, and its force is difficult to compare with the famous naturalized stars, who are at the peak of their performance and have had time to practice together like Indonesia. Vietnam promises to also face difficulties if the Philippines field a team consisting of 100% naturalized players.

Overall, in the upcoming ASEAN Cup, the defending champion will face a huge challenge in which the players will have to give more than 100% of their ability.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/asean-cup-dien-ra-vao-mua-he-thu-thach-lon-cho-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-post1796340.tpo