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.[3]Away goals rule wouldn't be applied.[4]
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 Oct 2024, East Timor beat Brunei by 1–0 on aggregate to become the last participant.[5]
Australia, a member since 2013, did not enter the tournament, due to restriction imposed by the AFF.[6]
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.[7][8]
To ensure uniformity and professionalism, the VAR system will be managed by a third-party provider rather than utilizing 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.[9]
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.[13] 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's and Singapore's national teams 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.[26] An LRT station of Bandar Tasik Selatan station was then targeted and damaged by the group.[27] This violent attitude from Malaysian fans were also shown earlier when one of them were arrested by police for the murder of a woman.[28] During their match with Thailand, however, Malaysian hooligans fans were beaten by Thai hooligans.[29][30]
^ abSingapore played their home games at the Jalan Besar Stadium from the knockout stage, due to 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 scheduled 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.[10] As a result, Vietnam hosted its game at the Việt Trì Stadium.[11]
^Indonesia played their group stage games in Surakarta, before moved to either Bogor or Surabaya should they qualify to the knockouts.[12]
^"[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. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
.jpg)
