On the morning of May 21, the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) team had a meeting in Bangkok (Thailand) to discuss, through the plan to organize football tournaments at the remaining period of 2025 and important tournaments of 2026, in which the focus is the male and female football at the SEA Games 33.
The 33rd SEA Games men's football will have 11 participating teams, divided into 3 groups, Group A includes 3 teams, Group B and Group C each have 4 teams.
The teams are divided into seed groups based on their achievements and hosting rights as follows: group 1 includes Thailand (host team, code A1), Indonesia and Vietnam; group 2 includes Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia; group 3 includes Timor Leste, Philippines, Laos; group 4 includes Singapore and Brunei.
The teams will compete in a round robin to calculate points, the top three teams in the group and the second team with the best results will enter the semi-finals.
The group stage will take place from December 3 to December 12, the semi-final round on December 15; the third-place match and the final will be held on December 18. The three stadiums chosen as the competition locations include Rajamangala (Bangkok), Tinsulanonda (Songkhla) and 700th Anniversary of Chiangmai (Chiangmai), in which Rajamangala Stadium will host the semi-finals, third-place matches and finals.
At the meeting, members of the AFF Competition Board agreed to propose to the SEA Games Organizing Committee to organize the final matches of the group stage taking place at the same time to ensure professional and fairness factors.
For women's football, the 9 participating teams are divided into 3 groups, each group has 3 teams. Seed group 1 includes Thailand (host team, code A1), Vietnam and Myanmar; group 2 includes Cambodia, Philippines, Singapore; group 3 includes Malaysia, Laos, Indonesia.
The women's football competition format is similar to men's football with group stage matches taking place from December 4 to December3; semi-final round on December 14.
The two stadiums chosen to host the group stage matches of women's football are Chonburi and TNSU Chonburi. Chonburi Stadium will also be the venue for the semi-finals, third-place matches and finals.
In addition to the football tournament plan at the 33rd SEA Games, the AFF Competition Board also approved the schedule for organizing important football tournaments in the region including: 2025 Southeast Asian Women's Football Championship hosted by Vietnam from August 6 to 19.8; 2025 U23 Southeast Asian Championship in Indonesia from 15 to 29.7; 2026 Southeast Asian Championship expected to be held from July 25 to August 26, 2026 and 2025-2026 Southeast Asian Club Championship will take place from August 2025 to May 2026.
