HYUNDAI CUP™
SHOPEE CUP™
MSIG SERENITY CUP™
MANDIRI CUP™ 2025
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The ASEAN Hyundai Cup™, also known as the ASEAN Championship, is Southeast Asia's top international football tournament with 11 ASEAN nations battling for regional supremacy on a biennial basis. Since its inception in 1996, it has grown from a two week-long centralised tournament into a competition that is played across every Southeast Asian country over a four-week period in front of sold-out stadiums.
Thailand won the inaugural ASEAN Championship in Singapore in 1996 with a 1-0 victory over Malaysia in the final and the War Elephants are the competition's most successful team with seven titles following further victories in 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2020 and 2022.
However, the Thais were denied an eighth championship in 2024 after they were beaten 5-3 on aggregate in the final by Vietnam, who claimed their third championship after victories in 2008 and 2018.
Singapore are the competition's second most successful team with four championships in 1998, 2004, 2007 and 2012, while Malaysia were crowned ASEAN champions in 2010.
Over the past 29 years, the ASEAN Championship has grown from strength to strength with each edition, setting records both on and off the field, to seal its position as the region’s largest, most popular football event. In 2024, it achieved a record 541.5 million viewers on television and digital streaming platforms while social media channels Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X registered 12.66 billion views of event-related videos.
The competition format includes a Qualifying Round Play-Off in which the two lowest ranking teams Brunei Darussalam and Timor Leste compete in home and away matches to secure a place with the nine other ASEAN national teams – Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam in the main group stage.
The ten qualifying teams are drawn into two groups of five for the round-robin group stage matches which will be played on a home or away basis. The top two finishers of each group advance to the double legged home-and-away semi-finals and subsequently, the two winners battle for the championship title at the finals.
Brunei Darussalam’s appearance in the group phase of the ASEAN Championship in 2022 marked the first time they had qualified for the tournament since the inaugural event in 1996. They narrowly missed out on qualification in 2024 after a 1-0 aggregate loss to Timor-Leste in a play-off.
Cambodia have made nine appearances in the ASEAN Championship and while they have yet to advance to the knock-out rounds, they have made good progress in recent years. The Angkor Warriors recorded wins against the Philippines and Brunei Darussalam to finish third in their group in 2022 and held Malaysia to a 2-2 draw in 2024 as they went close to a runner-up finish in their group.
Indonesia’s place among the elite of Southeast Asian football is undisputed, but the region’s most populous nation has yet to win the ASEAN Championship in 14 previous attempts. They have been runners-up on six occasions, the most recent in 2020, with that record including three consecutive second place finishes in 2000, 2002 and 2004. The others came in 2010 and 2016.
While Laos have appeared in all but one of the previous 14 editions of the ASEAN Championship, they have yet to progress past the group stage. However, Thim Xad have often proven to tricky opponents, as was the case in 2024 when they held Indonesia and the Philippines to draws and went close to a win against Myanmar before conceding two late goals in a 3-2 defeat.
Malaysia won their first, and so far only, ASEAN Championship in 2010 with victory over Indonesia in the final as K. Rajagopal’s side ended the nation’s frustrations at regional level 14 years after the creation of the tournament. The Malaysians have twice gone close to reclaiming the title, finishing runners-up in 2014 and 2018 before being eliminated in the semi-finals in 2022.
Myanmar have reached the knock-out rounds of the ASEAN Championship on two occasions with runs to the semi-finals in 2004 and 2016, when they bowed out to the eventual champions Singapore and Thailand respectively. They were in a position to reach the last four again in 2024 after a draw with the Philippines and a dramatic comeback win against Laos but went out after defeat to Vietnam in their last group game.
Since they reached the last four of the ASEAN Championship for the first time in 2010, the Philippines have appeared in the knockout rounds in five of the last eight tournaments. They advanced to the semi-finals in 2024 after a 1-0 win in Indonesia and beat Thailand 2-1 in the first leg of their semi-final before bowing out 4-3 on aggregate after a dramatic extra-time encounter in Bangkok.
Singapore are the second-most successful team in the ASEAN Championship with four titles, the first coming after a win over Vietnam in Hanoi in 1998 and the other three following in 2004, 2007 and 2012 under the guidance of head coach Radjoko Avramovic. While the Lions’ fortunes have waned in recent years, they made it to the semi-finals in 2024 before they were eliminated by eventual champions Vietnam.
Thailand have been the dominant force in Southeast Asian football over the past three decades, winning the inaugural ASEAN Championship in 1996 and six further titles in 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2020 and 2022. The War Elephants reached the final for a record 11th time in 2024, but they missed out on an unprecedented eighth regional title after they were beaten 5-3 on aggregate by Vietnam.
Timor-Leste made their ASEAN Championship debut in 2004, but they went out in the qualifying rounds in the next six tournaments before they secured their place in the group stage in three of the last four editions. While they have yet to avoid defeat in the group phase, they nearly picked up their first points in 2024 when they frustrated Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia for long periods before losing to late goals.
Vietnam were crowned ASEAN champions for the third time in 2024 when they defeated Thailand 5-3 on aggregate in the final, which exacted revenge on the defending champions who had beaten them in the 2022 final. The Golden Star Warriors claimed their first success in 2008 when Le Cong Vinh’s stoppage-time strike secured victory against Thailand and regained the title in 2018 after beating Malaysia 3-2 on aggregate.