The teams in group A are Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and the winner of the play-off between Brunei and Timo-Leste.
In the group stage of AFF Cup 2021, Vietnam will meet Malaysia again. Back in 2018, Vietnam were also grouped with Malaysia in the AFF Cup group stage and won 2-0. The Golden Dragons faced Malaysia once more in the final and won 3-2 after two legs.
The other teams in group B are not difficult challenges as they lost to Vietnam in the most recent encounters.
AFF Cup 2021 is set to take place from Dec. 5, 2021 to Jan. 1, 2022. However, the ASEAN Football Federation hasn't decided the host country for the tournament. Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia are the candidates to host the event.
Some adjustments to the tournament format were also announced. The third-place play-off will be removed while each team will be allowed to register 30 players instead of the typical 23.
Coach Park Hang-seo will have a busy few months ahead with AFF Cup and four more World Cup qualifying games in 2021. Park will also have to manage the U22 team during the U23 Asian Cup qualifiers in late October.