AFF Cup 2026 Draw to Take Place in Jakarta in January

Indonesia will host the AFF Cup 2026 drawing (doc.

JAKARTA - The draw for the 2026 AFF Cup (ASEAN Championship) - officially known as the 2026 ASEAN Hyundai Cup - will take place on January 15, 2026 in Jakarta.

This agenda is eagerly awaited to know the fate of Southeast Asian countries in the group stage in an effort to achieve the next one - a status that has a more important meaning next year because this tournament marks the 30th anniversary.

As was the case in previous editions, 10 teams will be drawn into two groups of five teams each.

Participants will compete in a single round-robin format from July 24 to August 8, 2026. The tournament switches to a summer window for the first time in more than two decades.

The knockout stage, consisting of home-and-away semi-finals and finals involving the top two teams from each group, will begin on August 15 and end on August 26, 2026.

Since 2000, the AFF Cup has usually been held at the end of the calendar year, but the change of schedule was mainly motivated to accommodate a similar shift by most Southeast Asian domestic competitions to an August-to-May calendar - in line with many leagues around the world.

The last tournament, won by Vietnam in early 2025, saw several teams experience difficulties in selecting players - due to the commitments of clubs that were running the league.

At that time, Indonesia sent down a U-23 team after being unable to call up most of the players based in Europe and were eliminated in the group stage despite initially being expected to be one of the real contenders. Meanwhile, seven-time AFF Cup champions Thailand are also without some of their stars.

The nine highest-ranked teams in the region - Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam - will automatically qualify for the main round.

Meanwhile, Brunei Darussalam and Timor Leste will face off in the two-leg qualifying playoff to compete for the last spot.