The final tournament was originally scheduled to run from 23 November to 21 December. However, the AFF decided to change the schedule from 8 December 2024 to 5 January 2025 to avoid conflicts with continental club competitions.[2]
The 2024 ASEAN Championship will follow format since 2018. In the current format, the nine highest ranked teams would automatically qualify, with the 10th and 11th ranked teams playing a two-legged qualifiers. The 10 teams would be split in two groups of five and play a round robin system with each team playing two home and two away fixtures. The top two sides of each group will advance to the knockout stages consisting of two-legged semi-finals and finals.[5]Away goals rule would not be applied.[6]
Nine teams automatically qualified to the ASEAN Championship final tournament. They were separated in respective pots, based on performance of the last two editions.
Brunei and East Timor, who were two lowest-performing teams, played a two-legged qualifier to determine the 10th and final qualifier. On 15 October 2024, East Timor beat Brunei by 1–0 on aggregate to become the last participant.[7]
Australia, a member since 2013, did not enter the tournament, due to restriction imposed by the AFF.[8]
The tournament's official draw was held on 21 May 2024 in Hanoi, Vietnam at 14:00 (GMT+07:00). The pot placements followed each team's progress based on the two previous editions. If the results are equal, the most recent tournament will be given priority.
At the time of the draw, the identity of the team that secured qualification was unknown and was automatically placed into Pot 5.
On 4 July 2024, the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) has officially confirmed the comprehensive use of video assistant referee (VAR) technology during the tournament.[9][10] To ensure uniformity and professionalism, the VAR system will be managed by a third-party provider rather than utilising the resources available in member countries. For the group stage matches, 10 cameras will be deployed to capture the action, with the number increasing to 12 cameras starting from the semifinals. This initiative marks the first time VAR was used in the senior ASEAN Championship and only the second time it was used in an AFF tournament after the 2024 U-19 Boys Championship.[11]
List of officials
The following officials were chosen for the competition.
In the tournament, a player will be suspended for the subsequent match in the competition for either getting red card or accumulating two yellow cards in two different matches.
The tournament's official match ball, Adidas Tiro Pro, was unveiled on 14 August 2024.[18] This marks the return of Adidas as the ASEAN Championship Official Supplier after 20 years.
Following the end of the Group A match between Malaysia and Singapore at Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur with subsequent Malaysia elimination, a group of Malaysian fans began showing a disrespectful acts by holding the Singapore flag upside down.[32] An LRT station of Bandar Tasik Selatan station was then targeted and damaged by the group.[33] This violent attitude from irresponsible Malaysian fans were also shown earlier when one of them were arrested by police for the murder of a woman.[34] Through further clashes between both Malaysian and Thai hooligan fans after Malaysia's match against Thailand, a Malaysian fan was injured.[35][36]
Criticism of officiating referees conduct
During the 2nd leg semi-finals match between the Philippines and Thailand at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, the Thai side missed out on two penalty kicks when two Filipino players committed handball in the penalty area, but the Japanese referee who officiated the match, Kimura Hiroyuki, still allowed the game to continue without checking on the video assistant referee (VAR).[37] Later during the build-up to Thailand's goal on the 37th minute, it appeared as though the ball was already out of bounds before it was shifted back in by Seksan Ratree, who crossed it into the box for Peeradol Chamrasamee. The goal stood through the decision of referee, despite protests from the Philippine side.[38]
There were incidents where VAR should have interrupted the match, including red card protest following a foul in the 4th minute from Phạm Tuấn Hải's aggressive tackle against Jonathan Khemdee, this occurred just before Tuấn Hải scored for Vietnam later in the 8th minute. There was also a handball incident outside the penalty box by goalkeeper Nguyễn Đình Triệu interrupting goal scoring opportunity for Suphanat Mueanta in the 62nd minute. VAR had checked the penalty possibility in the 85th minute following the tackle by Phạm Xuân Mạnh against Suphanan Bureerat inside the penalty area.[39]
In the 64th minute of the 2nd leg of the 2024 ASEAN Championship final between Thailand and Vietnam, Thailand scored a sudden goal from a long-range shot by Supachok Sarachat, which raised the score to 2–1 for Thailand. Vietnam had kicked the ball out of play due to a Vietnamese player was injured on the field. Then when the ball was in play, the Thai players decided to play the ball and score.[40][41]
Criticism of AFF management of tournament
For a long time, AFF Championship has been known for its unprofessional management in many aspects. This year's competition also illustrated many amateur mistakes by authorities, such as scheduling issues, causing most teams to play their multiple matches within less than 72-hour time period, affecting after-match recovery, leading to multiple injuries due to excessive workload compared to the importance and stance of the competition. The tournament does not take place during the FIFA Days calendar, so the points coefficient is the lowest in the FIFA scoring system,[42] reflecting the standard of competition organisation by AFF.[43]
The competition was also well-known for its intensity in terms of match load, causing the teams to travel along the regions to play another match within little timespan between each match.[44][45][46]
Faulty medals
Vietnamese striker Nguyễn Tiến Linh was awarded a "unique" gold medal during the 2024 AFF Championship awards ceremony at Rajamangala Stadium. Although it is a gold medal, it has the words "Runner Up" written on it. This is not the silver medal awarded to the runner-up team but a faulty gold medal since other gold medals awarded to his teammate have the word "Champion" on it. When the organisers awarded the medals, Tiến Linh himself did not realise this, where he and his teammates continued to celebrate and lifted the cup as usual. The Vietnamese team striker still had the medal and took a photo to show off on social media. It was not until online fans pointed out the unusual points in Tiến Linh's photo that the striker discovered it. The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) then working with the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) on the matters to exchange a "genuine" medal for Tiến Linh.[47] On 10 January 2025, the Organising Committee received the official complaint and apologised for the unexpected incident with a genuine gold medal to be awarded to Tiến Linh.[48] On 8 February 2025, he proudly shared that he had been sent the official gold medal from the ASEAN Cup organizing committee.[49]
1 2 Singapore played their home games at the Jalan Besar Stadium from the knockout stage, as the National Stadium – Singapore's home stadium in the group stage – was booked for a concert of JJ Lin on 28 and 29 December.
↑ East Timor played their home games in a neutral venue, due to the National Stadium in Dili failing to meet FIFA standards.
↑ Vietnam originally planned to play its home matches at the Mỹ Đình National Stadium, but later the stadium was booked for a concert on 7 and 9 December.[12] As a result, Vietnam hosted its game at the Việt Trì Stadium.[13]
↑ Indonesia played their group stage games in Surakarta, before moving to either Bogor or Surabaya had they qualified to the knockouts.[14]
↑ Also on FPT Play YouTube channel with an alternative "emotional" commentary.
↑ "[많다 축구 보자 SPOTV] 12/4(수) ~ 12/10(화) 해외축구 주요 생중계 일정 안내"[[Let's watch a lot of soccer SPOTV] Information on major overseas soccer live broadcast schedules from December 4th (Wed) to December 10th (Tue)]. spotv.net. Archived from the original on 11 December 2024. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
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Vietnam (3rd title)
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