The 2026 ASEAN Championship (officially the ASEAN Hyundai Cup 2026 for sponsorship reasons), or simply ASEAN Cup 2026, was the 16th edition of the ASEAN Championship, the biennal international men's football championship of Southeast Asia organised by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and was the 1st edition under the name ASEAN Hyundai Cup. The tournament was celebrated as the 30th anniversary of the competition.
The event was held in the summer season from July to August for the first time, instead of the traditional monsoon season near the year-end. Defending champions Vietnam defeated Thailand 4–2 on aggregate in the finals.
The tournament preceded the inaugural 2026 FIFA ASEAN Cup, first announced by FIFA in October 2025.
Format
The 2026 ASEAN Championship followed the current 2018 format. In the current format, the nine highest ranked teams automatically qualified, with the tenth and eleventh-ranked teams playing in a two-legged qualifier. The ten teams were split in two groups of five and played a round-robin system, with each team playing two home and two away fixtures. The top two sides of each group advanced to the knockout stages, consisting of two-legged semi-finals and finals. Away goals rule were not applied, like the previous edition.
Ten-second substitutions: Players being substituted had ten seconds to exit the field; otherwise, the substitute had to wait for one minute before entering the match.
Five-second restarts: A visual five-second countdown shown by the referee for throw-ins and goal kicks in situations of time-wasting. If the ball was not put into play in time, a restart was awarded to the opposing team; a corner kick was awarded if the infraction occurred with a goal kick.
Medical treatment: Any outfield player who received medical attention on the field had to wait for one minute before returning to play.
Expanded video assistant referee (VAR): The VAR could review and overturn wrongly awarded corner kicks, certain attacking fouls, and mistakes on cards.
Mouth-covering red cards: To stop confrontational or insulting behavior which was concealed to avoid lip-reading, any player who covered his mouth with his hand, arm, or shirt while confronting an opponent was sent off.
Player leaving the field in protest: Players or officials who left the field in protest were sent off.
Another change was the tiebreaker formula used when two or more teams finished the group stage with an equal number of points. The first tiebreaker criterion was the number of points earned in head-to-head matches between the tied teams, not the goal difference among all matches.
Nine teams automatically qualified to the ASEAN Championship final tournament. They were separated in respective pots, based on their performance in the last two editions.
Brunei and East Timor, the two lowest-ranked teams, played a two-legged qualifier to determine the tenth and final qualifier. On 9 June 2026, East Timor beat Brunei 6–1 on aggregate to become the last participant.
Australia, a member since 2013, did not enter the tournament.
The tournament's draw was held on 15 January 2026 at RCTI studio in Jakarta, Indonesia at 16:00 UTC+7 (WIB).
The pot placements followed each team's progress based on the two previous editions. If the results were equal, the most recent tournament was given priority.
Vietnam, the defending champions, were automatically placed in A1, while Thailand were placed in B1. Due to political tensions between Thailand and Cambodia, Cambodia and Thailand could not be drawn against each other. Consequently, Cambodia was automatically drawn to Group A and Myanmar to Group B.
At the time of the draw, the identity of the team that secured qualification was unknown and was automatically placed into Pot 5.
AFF announced the tournament schedule on 14 November 2025. The group stage took place from 24 July to 8 August 2026. The knockout stage took place from 15 to 26 August 2026.
Malaysia hosted their home matches at Kuala Lumpur Stadium because Bukit Jalil National Stadium was unavailable due to restrictions associated with the Zeon Zoysia pitch sponsorship and usage agreement. Under the agreement, the stadium could only be used for FIFA international windows and designated domestic cup matches to preserve the quality of the playing surface. In addition, Bukit Jalil National Stadium was closed for extensive track and facility upgrade works in preparation for the upcoming 2027 SEA Games, rendering it unavailable for the duration of the campaign.
The ranking was determined by the points obtained in group matches. If two or more teams were equal on points, the following criteria were used:
Most points obtained in the group matches played between the teams concerned;
Superior goal difference in matches played between the teams concerned;
Most goals scored in the group matches played between the teams concerned;
If, after having applied criteria a to c, teams still had an equal ranking, criteria a to c were reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams who were still level to determine their final rankings. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria d to h applied.
Superior goal difference in all group matches;
Most goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if two teams were tied and they met in last round of group
Highest team conduct ("fair play") score in all group matches (only one deduction could be applied to a player or team coach/official in a single match):
Yellow card: −1 point;
Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points;
Direct red card: −4 points;
Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points;
Drawing of lots
Group winners and runners-up advanced to the semi-finals.
In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time (in the second leg), extra time was played (two periods of 15 minutes each). If the scores were still level, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out.
A player or team official was automatically suspended for the next match of the tournament for the following offenses:
Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offenses).
Receiving two yellow cards in the tournament. Also, a player whose yellow card count reached two in the match and subsequently advanced to the next round was still suspended for the next match, but if eliminated, it is time-served.
The following suspensions were accumulated during the tournament:
Tournament suspensions for players and team officials
For the first time, Malaysia failed to secure domestic broadcasting rights due to the Malaysian football naturalisation scandal and match boycotts. All matches were streamed live on the ASEAN United YouTube channel.
2026 ASEAN Championship television broadcasters in Southeast Asia
↑As yellow cards were not carried forward to penalty shoot-outs, players could be shown two yellow cards in the same match without being sent off. However, this would result in a suspension for accumulating two yellow cards during the tournament.
12Guerrero, Bob (29 May 2026). "Why You Shouldn't Miss the PMNFT Friendlies in June". The Game. Retrieved 26 June 2026. I have just learned that the ASEAN Football Federation will adhere to AFC guidelines and therefore the PFF will have our two home games in Tarlac.
Vietnam (4th title)
Thailand
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