JAKARTA–The Philippine men’s national football team (PMNFT) will vie for a better showing in the 2026 ASEAN Championship-Hyundai Cup in July-August 2026, building on the momentum of a historic campaign in 2024 that was marked by a home-leg semis win against regional powerhouse Thailand.
PMNFT will again face Thailand in Group B of this year’s edition, dubbed as Hyundai Cup, alongside Malaysia, Myanmar, and Laos.
Here is the schedule of PMNFT’s group stage matches:
- July 28, vs Myanmar
- August 1, vs Laos
- August 4, vs Thailand
- August 8, vs Malaysia
The Philippines made history in the previous edition when PMNFT defeated the seven-time ASEAN champion on December 27, 2024 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium with a last minute winner from center back Kike Linares, notching the country’s first ever win in an ASEAN Championship semifinal game and the first win against Thailand since 1972.
PMNFT eventually lost on aggregate, 3-4, in an extra time thriller three days later in Bangkok, with Suphanat Mueanta’s winning goal in the 116th minute spelling the lone goal difference.
“Hyundai Cup 2026 will be a great opportunity to continue showing the progression that Philippine football is making in recent times,” commented PMNFT head coach Carles Cuadrat, who witnessed the draw.
“Although we all know how difficult it will be to achieve one of the first two places, we are also aware that we are a very competitive team that we can be fighting for classification until the last game as happened in the last edition 2024, where after three draws the team managed to beat Indonesia away and move on to the next phase,” the Spanish gaffer added.
It was a difficult journey for PMNFT last edition, eking out 1-1 draws against Myanmar and Vietnam at home, and against Laos in Vientiane, before earning the semis slot with a 1-0 squeaker against Indonesia in the final group game in Jakarta.
The team was then coach by Albert Capellas, Cuadrat’s coaching partner in Barcelona, Denmark, and in PMNFT (starting on March 2025), and was composed of the current core–led by Bjorn Kristensen, Sandro Reyes, and Jarvey Gayoso–campaigning in the ongoing 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers.
While Myanmar and Laos are frequent foes of the Philippines, Malaysia though is an unfamiliar opponent for PMNFT in this tournament, having last dueled them way back in the 2007 edition in Bangkok, where the Philippines lost, 0-4.
Everything turned around for PMNFT in the 2010 edition in Hanoi, when PMNFT upset then defending champion Vietnam, 2-0, in what was dubbed as the “Miracle of Hanoi.”
Since then, the Philippines achieved five intermittent semis appearance in the ASEAN Championship, with 2024 being the closest PMNFT could get to the finals.
“This team has already shown in the past that we can achieve these challenges, and in the ASEAN Championship Hyundai Cup 2026 we will have together another opportunity to demonstrate our growth as a football nation,” Cuadrat concluded.
Before ASEAN, PMNFT will have an all-important match against Tajikistan in the final qualifying game of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup on March 31 at the Pamir Stadium in Dushanbe.
