Before the final of the ASEAN Club Championship between Buriram and Hanoi Police Club took place, the tournament's organizers decided that the 2025/26 season would expand from 12 to 14 teams, bringing the total number of matches to 54 and increasing the number of match days to 13.
According to the new plan approved by the AFF Competition Committee, the Shopee Cup 2025/26 will consist of 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.
Specifically, the participating spots are allocated as follows: Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia each have two representatives: the national champion and the national cup champion (or the runner-up of the National Championship 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. In addition, the reigning champions of the ASEAN Club Cup will receive a wild card.
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The play-off round is scheduled to take place on August 8, 2025. The 14 teams will then be divided into two groups, playing a round-robin format from August 2025 to February 2026 for 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.
On the evening of May 21, in the second leg of the final match of the 2024/25 Southeast Asian Club Championship, Hanoi Police Club (CAHN) lost to Buriram United on penalties with a score of 2-3, thereby regrettably missing out on the championship.
Source: https://baophapluat.vn/tham-vong-cua-giai-c1-dong-nam-a-post549301.html
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