Who are kings of Southeast Asian football: Vietnam, Indonesia or Thailand?

Indonesia defeated Thailand in the final of the 2026 FIFA ASEAN Cup on October 5, becoming the inaugural champions of the tournament.

Meanwhile, Vietnam lost 0-1 to Malaysia in the third-place play-off of the tournament on the same day.

Several Indonesian players have taken to social media to assert that their players are the undisputed ‘kings of Southeast Asian football.’

Elkan Baggott and Justin Hubner were among those making such claims after the tournament.

Apparently irked by their rivals’ boasts, Thai media outlets decided to settle the argument by counting trophies.

Thailand’s Ball Thai cited the historical records of the ASEAN Cup to determine who truly deserve the title of Southeast Asia’s football kings.

According to its tally, Thailand have won the region’s traditional tournament seven times, while Vietnam share second place with Singapore on four titles each.

Malaysia have lifted the trophy once.

In compiling the rankings, the Thai outlet provisionally treated the 2026 FIFA ASEAN Cup as an equivalent to one edition of the ASEAN Cup.

On that basis, Indonesia have won the competition just once.

Another Thai newspaper, Daily News, took a different approach to making the case for Thailand’s supremacy, pointing to the FIFA world rankings.

Thailand currently sit 93rd in the world, making them the highest-ranked team in Southeast Asia, followed by Vietnam in 99th place.

That is the Thai perspective.

Understandably, media outlets in each country can find their own reasons to argue that their national team are the best.

In theory, Thailand failed to win either the 2026 ASEAN Cup or the 2026 FIFA ASEAN Cup, but they have been the most consistent of the three teams, finishing runners-up in both competitions.

Vietnam retained the 2026 ASEAN Cup after a 2-2 draw with Thailand in the second leg of the final in late August, securing a 4-2 aggregate victory and their second consecutive regional title.

Nevertheless, media outlets from outside the countries involved have placed considerable value on Vietnam’s ASEAN Cup triumph.

A notable example is The Guardian, which published a commentary by John Duerden.

“Vietnam are the champions of the ASEAN Cup, Southeast Asia’s traditional tournament. The FIFA ASEAN Cup, meanwhile, has inevitably prompted fans to question its necessity, raising the prospect that it could eventually fade into obscurity,” he observed.

Malaysia’s Sports247 also referred to Vietnam as the ‘champions of Southeast Asia’ in its post-tournament analysis, reflecting the enduring recognition enjoyed by the region’s traditional competition.

Indonesia, with their new generation of players and a fresh direction in football development, have good reason to believe that the FIFA ASEAN Cup is currently the most appropriate benchmark for measuring the strength of Southeast Asian national teams.

That, however, does not mean the regional football community should dismiss the value of the ASEAN Cup – a tournament in which Vietnam are the reigning champions, while Thailand remain the most successful team in its history.

For now, the debate over who deserve to be called the ‘kings of Southeast Asian football’ remains very much open.