Today (September 23), Siam Sports reported that the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) has just submitted to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) a plan to organize men's football at the 33rd SEA Games.
According to the proposal, men's football teams will still limit the age of players to no more than 22. This is to facilitate the teams to prepare for the 2026 U23 Asian Cup finals.
In addition, Thailand said that not using players who are too old is to ensure sustainable development and create opportunities for young talents to have more opportunities to compete and develop, while creating a fairer playground for all participating teams.
The locations for men's football tournaments include Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Songkhla.
The competition format also has certain changes. In previous SEA Games, 10-11 teams were divided into 2 groups, resulting in each team having to compete at a high frequency, from 2-3 days a match.
FAT proposed that the 11 teams will be divided into 3 groups. Accordingly, Group A has 3 teams, Group B and Group C each have 4 teams. The top three teams in the group along with the second-placed team with the best results will qualify for the semi-finals. As the host team, Thailand was seeded in Group A.
As for women's football, after finalizing the number of participating teams, the organizing committee will decide on the competition format later. If there are 9 participating teams, it is likely that FAT will also plan to divide into 3 groups, each group of 3 teams.
"It is expected to be passed smoothly," Siam Sports emphasized. If so, this could become a historic change for football at the Southeast Asian Games. Because since football appeared at a SEA Games (in 1959 for men's football, in 1985 for women's football), the teams have always been divided into 1 or 2 groups.
The 33rd SEA Games will take place from December 9-20, 2025, in the cities of Bangkok, Chonburi and Songkhla of Thailand.
