ASEANEWS: SPORTS FOOTBALL | ASEAN Championship / ASEAN Hyundai Cup 2026: Fans frustrated as tickets for ASEAN C’ship s-final between S’pore and Thailand sell out in a flash
ASEAN Championship – Wikipedia
The ASEAN Championship (formerly known as the AFF Championship or AFF Cup), currently known as the ASEAN Hyundai Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the biennial football tournament organised by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) for …
Singapore’s starting XI posing for a photo before the ASEAN Championship Group A match against Indonesia at Jalan Besar Stadium on Aug 7./ ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO
SINGAPORE – Many Lions fans were left frustrated as more than 4,000 home-supporter tickets for the ASEAN Championship semi-final first leg between Singapore and Thailand were sold out not long after sales started online on Aug 12.Several of them made their disappointment known on the Football Association of Singapore’s (FAS) Instagram page after being unable to purchase tickets for the 9pm match at the 6,000-seat Jalan Besar Stadium on Aug 15.
The second leg will be played at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok on Aug 18.
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Memento Maxima Digital MarketingFor the game in Singapore, tickets are priced at $49 for Category 1 and $35 for Category 2, excluding ticketing fees, and were sold exclusively via Tickethotline from 11am on Aug 12, without box-office or on-site sales.
In an Instagram post about 90 minutes later, the FAS confirmed that tickets had been sold out, prompting several comments from disappointed fans.
User @lydiaizzati wrote: “I got in at 10.50am and can’t even select any seat.”
Some such as @danhaii noted that tickets “sold out after 1 min of queuing”, while others berated scalpers and buyers who used bots, and urged better ticket management in the future.
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It did not take long for scalpers to surface on online marketplaces such as Carousell, where there were people looking to buy and sell the tickets, with a pair of Category 1 tickets going for as much as $1,500, or more than 15 times their original price.
Scalpers have taken to Carousell to profit from ASEAN Championship semi-final tickets.
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM CAROUSELL
Singapore fan Lin Tianbao was disappointed to see tickets being resold at exorbitant prices.
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The 21-year-old undergraduate, who was looking to buy three tickets, told The Straits Times that all the seats were gone when his turn came after about 35 minutes of “queueing” online.
“I joined the queue five minutes before sales started, but at 11.10am a message flashed on the screen to indicate ‘all seats are currently reserved’ and ‘availability is expected to be very limited’ while I was not even halfway through the queue according to the progress bar.
“When I eventually got in at 11.30am, all the seats were gone. I have been following the national team for many years and attend friendly and competitive games as much as possible, and I was really hoping to witness them have a shot at making the final. I was very frustrated by the ticketing process, especially after seeing all the tickets being resold online at exorbitant prices.
“I feel more should have been done to eliminate the bots, especially with the match held at the lower-capacity stadium.”
Those who did not manage to secure tickets can still catch the match with fellow fans at several watch parties across the island at venues such as the Kallang Wave Mall, Cheng San Community Club in Ang Mo Kio, ARFC Woodleigh, Boon Lay Community Club, One Punggol and Our Tampines Hub.
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In a media statement, FAS said it is grateful for the overwhelming support, noting that TicketHotline International, the Asean Football Federation-appointed ticketing partner for the tournament, “is helping ensure a secure and standardised ticketing process across all participating nations”.
This includes setting caps on the maximum number of tickets that can be purchased per transaction.
The FAS added that it does not “condone the unauthorised resale of tickets, particularly where tickets are being offered at inflated prices”, and warned that the authenticity of tickets purchased through unofficial channels cannot be guaranteed.
Support for the Lions has improved in the Gavin Lee era after the team registered some encouraging results of late, even securing maiden Asian Cup qualification in November 2025.
This is the third time in four editions that the Lions have made it to the ASEAN Championship semi-finals. They finished second in Group A by beating Cambodia (2-1 away) and Timor-Leste (2-0 at home) before holding defending champions Vietnam (0-0 away) and Indonesia (1-1 at home).
Four-time champions Singapore are playing at the smaller Jalan Besar Stadium as the 55,000-seat National Stadium was used for the National Day Parade on Aug 9 and The Kallang Group revealed that it takes about 2½ weeks to dismantle the set-up and get the pitch ready.
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The FAS also shared that the entire away ticket allocation, which accounts for 10 per cent of available seats, has been “purchased in full by Football Association of Thailand (FAT) and are managed directly by them”.
It added that the home zones are designated for Singapore fans and supporters only, and likewise away zones are for away supporters only. Supporters seeking away tickets should contact FAT directly at [email protected]
It also said the FAS “reserves the right to deny entry to, or remove from the venue, any patron found in a zone not designated for their supported team, without refund – including, for example, patrons in home zones wearing away team colours or attire, or otherwise visibly showing support for the away team”.
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David Lee is senior sports correspondent at The Straits Times, focusing on aquatics, badminton, basketball, cue sports, football and table tennis.
