| Tourney Name: | SEA Games Football |
| Year: | 1981 |
| Country: | Philippines |
| Country-Flagvar: | 1936 |
| Dates: | 6–15 December |
| Num Teams: | 6 |
| Venues: | 2 |
| Cities: | 2 |
| Champion: | Thailand |
| Count: | 3 |
| Second: | Malaysia |
| Third: | Indonesia |
| Fourth: | Singapore |
| Matches: | 10 |
| Goals: | 26 |
| Prevseason: | 1979 |
| Nextseason: | 1983 |
The football tournament at the 1981 SEA Games was held from 6 December to 15 December 1981 in Manila, Philippines.
--------
--------
| INDONESIA: | ||||
| GK | ||||
| RB | ||||
| CB | ||||
| CB | ||||
| LB | Didik Darmadi | |||
| CM | Herry Kiswanto | |||
| CM | ||||
| CM | Robby Binur | |||
| CM | Rully Nere | |||
| FW | ||||
| FW | ||||
| Substitutes: | ||||
| DF | ||||
| FW | ||||
| SINGAPURA: | ||||
| GK | David Lee | |||
| DF | ||||
| DF | T. Pathmanathan | |||
| DF | Norhalis Shafik | |||
| DF | R. Suriamurthi | |||
| MF | Malek Awab | |||
| MF | ||||
| MF | ||||
| MF | ||||
| CF | Fandi Ahmad | |||
| CF | ||||
| Substitutes: | ||||
| MF | ||||
| MF | ||||
| THAILAND: | |||
| GK | |||
| RB | |||
| CB | |||
| CB | |||
| LB | Prapen Pramsri | ||
| CM | Chalermwoot Sa-Ngapol | ||
| CM | |||
| CM | Vorawan Chitavanich | ||
| FW | Piyapong Pue-on | ||
| FW | Chirdsak Chaiyabutr | ||
| FW | |||
| MALAYSIA: | ||||
| GK | R. Arumugam | |||
| DF | ||||
| DF | Subramaniam Puspanathan | |||
| DF | Khamal Khalid | |||
| DF | Wong Hung Nung | |||
| MF | ||||
| MF | Jamal Nasir | |||
| MF | ||||
| MF | ||||
| CF | Mokhtar Dahari | |||
| CF | ||||
| Substitutes: | ||||
| MF | ||||