The final was contested in two-legged home-and-away format between Vietnam and Thailand. The first leg was hosted by Vietnam at the Việt Trì Stadium in Phú Thọ on 2 January 2025, while the second leg was hosted by Thailand at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok on 5 January 2025.[2]
Vietnam secured their third title after defeating the two-time defending champions Thailand by a 5–3 aggregate score in the two-legged final.[3]
Background
This was the fifth ASEAN Championship final and second consecutive finals for Vietnam, having won in 2008 and 2018 finals, but lost in two 1998 and 2022 finals.
This was the eleventh ASEAN Championship final and third consecutive finals for Thailand, having won the 1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022 finals, and lost in 2007, 2008, and 2012 finals.
Both were the strongest-ranked AFF teams in the FIFA World Rankings; Thailand was ranked first in Southeast Asia at 97th while Vietnam was ranked 2nd there at 114th. This marks the second time that the finalists have met in the final of the ASEAN Championship in consecutive editions (2000 and 2002 was the other time) when Thailand played Indonesia. Thailand had the second-highest win percentage in the ASEAN Championship finals with 70% while Vietnam had only 50%. Also, Thailand was leading the all-time championship table with seven titles to their name while Vietnam, on the other hand, only won two in 2008 and 2018. They have met in the final twice: in 2008 when Vietnam won 3–2 on aggregate (won 2–1 in the first leg; and drew 1–1 in the second) and 2022 when Thailand won by the same scoreline (2–2 draw in the first leg; and won 1–0 in the second). In all competitions since Vietnam's reintegration, Thailand won 18 meetings, Vietnam won only 3, and 8 matches ended in draws.[4]
This final between the two countries is highly anticipated given their success, having won each AFF tournament since 2014.[5][6][7]
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