The 33rd SEA Games will take place in December this year in Thailand. The host country's media said that the stadiums for men's football have been determined.
U22 Vietnam, U22 Thailand and U22 Indonesia are placed in seed group number 1. Therefore, the three teams are divided into three different groups and compete in different locations.
defending champion Indonesia will begin the journey to defend the gold medal at Songkhla. host Thailand U22 will compete in Bangkok. Meanwhile, the group stage of U22 Vietnam took place in Chiang Mai.
According to the previous announcement of the organizing committee, three stadiums were chosen as competition locations including Rajamangala (Bangkok), Tinsulanonda (Songkhla) and 700th Anniversary of Chiangmai (Chiangmai). Rajamangala Stadium will host the semi-finals, third-place matches and finals.
The 33rd SEA Games men's football tournament will have 11 participating teams, divided into 3 groups. Group A includes 3 teams, Group B and Group C each have 4 teams. Teams are divided into seed groups based on their performance and hosting rights.
Group 1 includes host Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. Group 2 includes Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia. Group 3 includes Timor Leste, Philippines, Laos. Group 4 includes Singapore and Brunei.
The teams competed in a round robin to calculate points. The top three teams in the group and the second-placed team with the best results will enter the semi-finals.
According to the schedule announced by the organizing committee, the group stage of men's football will take place from December 3 to December 12, the semi-final will take place on December 15. The third-place match and final will be held on December 18.