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The friendly competition will take place in Chongqing, China, and feature the host nation alongside Uzbekistan, North Korea, Tajikistan and Palestine. All five teams have qualified for the 2027 Asian Cup and view this friendly tournament as a warm-up event.

The China national team want to assess their progress and chances ahead of both the 2027 Asian Cup and the 2030 World Cup qualifiers. Among their four opponents in Chongqing, Uzbekistan stand out as the most prominent. They recently participated in the 2026 World Cup and are currently 60th in the FIFA world ranking, followed by China (91st), Palestine (95th), Tajikistan (101st), and North Korea (120th).

For the upcoming 2027 Asian Cup, China have been drawn into Group C, where they will face fierce competition against Iran, Syria and Kyrgyzstan.

By organizing this independent friendly tournament, China have confirmed their absence from the inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup. This new competition serves as an expanded version of the traditional ASEAN Cup and is organized by FIFA.

Both China and India received invitations to the tournament in May, followed by Hong Kong. Their inclusion was expected to help create a football event bringing together 14 countries with 3.5 billion people, which accounts for 44% of the global population.

Replacing China will be Pakistan. India and Hong Kong have already accepted the invitations.

Besides the three guest teams, all 11 Southeast Asian nations will be featured: Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Timor-Leste and Brunei.

The 14 participating nations will be split into two divisions. The first division will be hosted in Indonesia, while the second division fixtures will take place in Hong Kong.

Each division will be divided into two groups, playing in a round-robin format. The first division has Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Singapore in Group A, while Vietnam are in Group B with Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines.

The second division features Hong Kong, Myanmar and Brunei in Group A, while Group B has Cambodia, Laos and Timor-Leste.

Vietnam midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai (number 19) during in the 3-2 victory over Thailand in the second leg of the 2024 ASEAN Cup final, at Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand on Jan. 5, 2025. Photo by Read/Duc Dong

In both the first and second divisions, the top team from each group will advance directly to the final. The two second-place teams from each group will compete in third-place playoffs.

Organizers have opted not to include placement matches for the fifth through eighth positions. Therefore, participating teams are guaranteed to play a minimum of two matches and a maximum of four, comfortably fitting within the 15-day period.

The format with two divisions is expected to increase competitiveness and quality by allowing teams of similar skill levels to face each other more frequently, and limiting matches with large gaps in level. At the same time, this format creates more motivation for teams to strive to maintain their position or aim for promotion in the next tournaments.

The inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup will be held within the newly expanded FIFA Days timeframe, which takes effect in 2026. Under this revised international calendar, the traditional national team training camps previously held separately in September and October will be merged into a single, continuous three-week period spanning from Sept. 21 to Oct. 6.

With FIFA taking on direct organizing duties, the tournament is widely expected to elevate the profile of Southeast Asian football and provide more international tournament experience for the participating teams.

The introduction of this new competition means that Southeast Asia will have two major regional tournaments in 2026. The traditional ASEAN Cup (formerly the AFF Cup) is taking place from July 24 to Aug. 26.

This long-standing tournament has been held every two years since its inception in 1996, with Vietnam entering the current edition as the defending champions.

The new FIFA ASEAN Cup taking place during the international break will allow teams to call up their strongest possible squads, as clubs are obligated to release their players during this window. Therefore, the overall quality of the matches is expected to be higher than the traditional ASEAN Cup.