The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) said Sunday that 40,000 tickets each were sold online in the last couple of days and another 40,000 at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, the venue of the match, in Kuala Lumpur, on Sunday.
Demand was so high that thousands of fans arrived at the stadium Saturday night and many had to go away empty-handed, it said.
The ticket counters closed 30 minutes after opening at 9:53 a.m., it said.
In a Facebook post, FAM apologized to those who failed to get tickets.
Another 4,000 tickets were sold at two other outlets – the Football Republic in Sunway Pyramid and Al-Ikhsan in IOI City Mall in Putrajaya.
Malaysia will travel to Hanoi for the return leg on December 15. They have won the AFF Suzuki Cup once before in the 2010.
Vietnam won the trophy in 2008.