Vietnam to host the ASEAN U23 Championship for the first time in 2027

Vietnam will host the ASEAN U23 Championship for the first time after the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) awarded it the 2027 edition, which is planned for July 2027. The decision was taken at the 16th meeting of the AFF Competitions Committee in Tokyo on 23 October 2026 and announced afterwards by the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), Dân trí reported. Vietnam's U23 side won the last three editions, all of them away from home, Thanh Niên noted, so the 2027 tournament will be their first on home soil.

VnExpress says the meeting was held on the sidelines of the Asian Football Confederation's Extraordinary Congress and was chaired by VFF president Trần Quốc Tuấn in his role as head of the AFF Competitions Committee. AFF president Khiev Sameth attended, according to Thanh Niên and Bongdaplus, and delegates also discussed the organisation of current competitions, changes to their schedules and the AFF's plans for the coming years. We covered the rest of that meeting in VFF president Trần Quốc Tuấn chairs AFF competitions meeting.

A crowded 2027 for the U23s

Tuổi Trẻ and Bongdaplus place the tournament in July 2027, straight after the qualifiers for the 2028 AFC U23 Asian Cup end in June 2027. Dân trí adds that it also comes just before the 34th SEA Games, expected in September 2027, which Tuổi Trẻ says Malaysia will host. KBVN+ has put the calendar together from those reports:

Venues, the number of teams and the match schedule have not been announced. Tuổi Trẻ and Bongdaplus say hosting gives the U23 squad more international games and a chance to assess players and raise standards before bigger continental targets.

Three titles, all on the road

The championship was first held in Thailand in 2005, VnExpress says, and Tuổi Trẻ notes that it only returned in 2019. The 2027 tournament will be the sixth edition.

The most recent edition had 10 teams in three groups across two stadiums. Vietnam beat Indonesia 1-0 in the final at the Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta on 29 July 2025, according to VnExpress, and Thanh Niên recalls that Đình Bắc received the best player award. Dân trí points out that Vietnam are the only team to have won the title more than once.

What it means for Vietnam

According to VnExpress, the VFF sees the decision as recognition of its effort and experience in running international tournaments and matches, and of the country's facilities. Bongdaplus adds that it is a chance to promote Vietnamese football and to give the region's U23 teams competitive matches.

Vietnam has hosted before. VnExpress lists the women's ASEAN Cup in Hải Phòng and Phú Thọ and the ASEAN U19 women's championship in Ho Chi Minh City in 2025, and the football and futsal events of the 31st SEA Games in 2022. The biggest was the 2007 Asian Cup, co-hosted with Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, when Mỹ Đình staged five Group B matches and Quân khu 7 stadium in Ho Chi Minh City staged one.

No venue has been named. Dân trí mentions two stadiums that should be finished or close to it by then: the 60,000-seat PVF stadium in Hưng Yên, expected in March 2027, and the 135,000-seat Trống Đồng stadium, due around the middle of 2027 or early 2028. They are projects mentioned in that report, not venues confirmed by the VFF or the AFF.

What comes next

The U23 squad's next step is a friendly tournament at Pleiku stadium in Gia Lai from 10 to 14 November 2026 against the U23 teams of Qatar, Thailand and Singapore, Dân trí reports; Tuổi Trẻ calls it the Gia Lai VTV Cup 2026. Read more in Vietnam U23 search for a new core for the 34th SEA Games.

For the 2027 championship itself, the venues, format and official schedule are still to come from the VFF and the AFF. Follow every Vietnamese team on our Vietnam national team fixtures page.