On the afternoon of July 4 in Bangkok (Thailand), the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) held a draw ceremony for the 2025-2026 Southeast Asian Club Championship, including 2 representatives of Vietnamese football, Nam Dinh Steel Blue and Hanoi Police.
According to the draw results, Hanoi Police is in Group A, along with Buriram United and BG Pathum United (Thailand), Sedingor FC (Malaysia), Tampines Rovers (Singapore), and the winning team in the play-off match between Kasuka FC (Cambodia) and Dynamic Herb Cebu FC (Philippines).
Meanwhile, Nam Dinh Steel Blue is in Group B with opponents Bangkok United (Thailand), Johor Darul Tazim (Malaysia), Lion City Sailors (Singapore), Svay Rieng (Cambodia) and the winning team in the play-off match between Ezra FC (Laos) and Shan United (Myanmar).
According to the plan, the play-off stage will take place on August 8, 2025. The group stage will be played in a round-robin from August 2025 to February 2026, in which each team will play 3 home matches and three away matches. The top four teams in each group will qualify for the quarter-finals.
The quarter-finals will take place on February 26 and 27, 2026, followed by the semi-finals on May 6 and 13, 2026, competing in the format of 2 direct elimination matches. The two finals will be held on a home-away basis, scheduled for May 20 and 27, 2026.
The 2025-2026 Southeast Asian Club Championship will expand the scale from 12 to 14 teams, bringing the total number of matches from 42 to 54 matches.
Expanding the tournament scale and adjusting the competition schedule is expected to improve professional quality, increase competitiveness and contribute to promoting the development of professional football in Southeast Asia.
The two representatives of Vietnam participating in the tournament also received high appreciation for their ability and are expected to become 2 candidates in the race for the championship.
In another development, Indonesia did not participate in the tournament due to disagreements between the AFF and the Indonesian National Championship Organizing Committee (LIB) on the selection of a team to participate.
AFF requested to send the champion and runner-up of Liga 1, but LIB nominated the 3rd and 4th ranked teams for strong teams to focus on the Asian playground. Due to not being approved by the AFF, Indonesia decided to withdraw, leaving the tournament with only 14 participating teams.
