Thailand were the defending champions, and won the tournament by a 3–2 aggregate score in the two-legged final against its rivals, Vietnam to secure their seventh title.

Nine teams automatically qualified to the AFF Championship final tournament; they were separated into their respective pots based on their performance in the last two editions.

Brunei secured qualification, and their second appearance in the tournament after 26 years, by defeating Timor-Leste 6–3 on aggregrate, thus ensuring all 10 ASEAN members have their respective teams in the competition.

On 3 January 2023, AFF confirmed that Azam Azmi would be suspended for two matches, and would be absent against Singapore and the semi-finals first leg against Thailand.

[36][37] A complaint was made by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) towards the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) regarding the "perceived biasedness of Sato's officiating conduct" since a similar incident had also occurred before in another Malaysia-Vietnam encounter during 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification held in the United Arab Emirates.

[41][42] On 3 January 2023, AFF responded to FAM's letter by giving Azam a two-match ban, where he would miss Malaysia's last group stage match against Singapore and the semi-final first leg against Thailand.

[43] Before the Group A match between Indonesia and Thailand, a bus that transported the Thai team was disturbed and halted by Indonesian hooligans, which resulted in the bus needing to be escorted and the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium heavily guarded by the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), Public Order Agency (Satpol PP), firefighters and medical workers.

[54] To relief the disappointments among many of the football fans who were unable to attend due to limited spots in the stadium caused by the issues, the Malaysian government in collaboration with local authorities erected 14 big screens in chosen locations nationwide.

[55] Earlier before the 1st leg match between Malaysia and Thailand in Kuala Lumpur, the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) announced that a security measure which included body checks as well as bags and items checks would be carried out at each entrance and after entering the stadium grounds.

[56] The police released a list of prohibited items that were not allowed to be brought into the stadium such as firecrackers, fireworks, flares, helmets, laser pens, sharp objects and alcoholic beverages.

[56] Despite this preventive measures, as seen during the match, some Malaysian fans were still able to smuggle prohibited items into the stadium when some of them were seen pointing green laser lights towards Thai defender Pansa Hemviboon as well as towards the left side face of referee of the match Kim Dae-yong, especially after the second goal of Malaysia from their centre-back player Dominic Tan was disallowed by the referee due to collision with the Thai player.