According to information from the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF), the group stage will be held in a round-robin format, starting from July 24 and ending on August 8. After that, the tournament will enter the most important competition stage with the semi-finals and finals in a double round format, taking place from August 15 to 26.
The ASEAN Cup return to the summer schedule will take place right after the 2026 World Cup ends in the US, Canada and Mexico. In the early stages, the tournament was held in August or September under the name Tiger Cup, before moving to the November to January framework since 2000.
2026 is the 16th ASEAN Cup held since the first tournament in Singapore in 1996, marking a milestone of 3 decades of competition between regional teams in the playground considered the most important in Southeast Asian football.
Mr. Khiev Sameth - President of AFF emphasized the importance of this time frame. He said that finalizing the competition schedule for the 2026 tournament is of special significance, while affirming that AFF appreciates the support of fans for nearly 30 years and wishes to continue to elevate the tournament to reach a larger international scale.
In the previous 15 tournaments, Thailand is the team with the most titles with 7 championships. Following them are Singapore with 4 championships, Vietnam with 3 wins and Malaysia with 1 title. Vietnam is currently the defending champion of the tournament.
