ASEAN Cup 2024 delayed

The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) on Tuesday announced that the ASEAN Cup (formerly AFF Cup) will be held from Dec. 9, 2024 to Jan. 5, 2025. According to the original plan, the tournament was set to take place from Nov. 23 to Dec. 21, 2024.

The change is mainly due to the schedule overlapping with Asian club tournaments at the end of the year.

Southeast Asia has two teams competing in the group stage of the AFC Champions League on Nov. 25, 26 and Dec. 2, 3, and 10 teams in the group stage of the AFC Cup on Nov. 26, 27 and Dec. 3, 4.

The original match schedule also caused difficulties for Indonesia, who will face Saudi Arabia in group C of the 2026 World Cup third qualifying round on Nov. 19.

The Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) has discussed with coach Shin Tae-yong about using the U22 team to play the ASEAN Cup, to focus maximum resources on the World Cup qualifiers. The ASEAN Cup schedule shift may make PSSI change its mind, as Indonesia also aim to win the title for the first time after losing six finals.

At this year ASEAN Cup, Vietnam are in group B and will play Laos on Dec. 9, Indonesia on Dec. 15, the Philippines on Dec. 18 and Myanmar on Dec. 21. The group stage will feature two home and two away matches.

Vietnam have won the title twice, in 2008 and 2018. Thailand are the most decorated team with seven titles (1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2020 and 2022), followed by Singapore with four (1998, 2004, 2007 and 2012).