Southeast Asian Club Championship increases to 14 teams, V-League may have 3 slots

If Hanoi Police win, Vietnam will have 3 spots in the tournament - Photo: ACC

On May 21, the Competition Committee of the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) approved the plan to organize the Southeast Asian Club Championship - ACC for the 2025-2026 season with 14 participating teams.

The 2024-2025 ACC champions have a wild card. In addition, the participating slots are allocated as follows: Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia have 2 representatives: the national champion and the national cup champion (or the national championship runner-up if the country does not have a national cup, for example Indonesia).

Cambodia has one spot for the national champion. Four teams from the Philippines, Myanmar, Laos and Brunei will compete in a play-off for the remaining two spots in the group stage.

The play-off round is scheduled to take place on August 8, 2025. The 14 clubs will then be divided into two groups, playing a round-robin from August 2025 to February 2026 with a total of 42 group stage matches.

The quarter-finals and semi-finals will be played in a home-and-away format, with the finals scheduled for May 20 and May 27, 2026.

The expansion and adjustment of the competition schedule will help the ACC Cup increase its competitiveness, while contributing to promoting the development of professional football in the region.

Tonight, May 21, Vietnam's representative, Hanoi Police Club, will play the second leg of the final against Buriram United in Thailand to find the first champion of the tournament.

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QUANG THINH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/giai-vo-dich-cac-clb-dong-nam-a-tang-len-14-doi-v-league-co-the-co-3-suat-20250521163415312.htm