Football at the SEA Games
Football has been part of the SEA Games sport since the 1959 edition. The women's football competition was held for the first time in 1985 in Thailand.
From the 2001 SEA Games to the 2015 SEA Games and again since 2021 SEA Games, the men's teams was restricted to under-23 plus additional three over-23 players maximum for each squad.
Since the 2017 SEA Games, the age limit for men's teams is under-22. At the 2019 SEA Games, two over-aged players were allowed for each team while the 2023 edition and 2025 edition saw no overage players allowed.
Thailand and Vietnam are the only two nations to have won both the men's and women's gold medals in a Southeast Asian Games football tournament. Thailand achieved this feat five times, while Vietnam accomplished it twice in 2019 and 2021.
Results
Men's tournament
SEAP Games
1 Decided by round-robin standings.2 The title was shared.
3 There was no bronze medal game held.
SEA Games
4 Indonesia did not turn up at the appointed time. After waiting for 15 minutes the referee called off the game and reported to the technical committee which awarded the bronze to Burma.5 Decided by round-robin standings.
6 The 1985 tournament featured only three teams, and as a result, no fourth place was awarded.