The 2025 Southeast Asian Women's Football Championship (ASEAN Cup for women) will take place from August 6 to 19 at Viet Tri Stadium (Phu Tho) and Lach Tray Stadium (Hai Phong).
The Vietnamese women's team is in Group A with Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia. Meanwhile, Group B has the participation of the defending champions Philippines, U23 Australia, Myanmar and Timor-Leste.
In their group, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team have many opportunities to top the group.
The Indonesian women's team and the Cambodian women's team are both below the Vietnamese women's team. Statistics show that in the 16 meetings between these two teams, the Vietnam women's team has won all 16 times.
The Thai women's team is a team with many difficulties for the Vietnamese women's team. However, at the 2025 AFF Women's Cup, coach Futoshi Ikeda's team will not have the strongest force.
Because the tournament is not included in the FIFA Days schedule, Thailand cannot call up key players playing abroad.
Instead, the Thai women's team called up most of the players who are competing domestically, some of whom are very young and have little international experience. With this force, it will be very difficult for the Thai team to defeat the Vietnamese team, which has all the best players and home field advantage.
The main competitor for the championship with the Vietnamese women's team is likely to be the Philippines - the defending champion team. The Philippine women's team has finalized a squad of 23 players to go to Vietnam to participate in the ASEAN Women's Cup 2025, of which 12 are competing abroad.
Many players of the Philippine women's team are playing football in the US, where women's football is the world's leading development. Coach Mark Torcaso is confident that with the depth of the squad, with a combination of experienced players and talented young players, the Philippines women's team will successfully defend the championship title.
We are delighted to bring a strong and young squad to the tournament, a good combination of experienced players, along with some U17 and U20 players joining us.
As the defending champions, we are here to win and do our best for our country and our fans. We believe in the depth of our squad and we are ready to show that.
The Philippine women's team has made progress and stabilized in recent international tournaments. They reached the semi-finals of the 2022 Asian Cup, participated in the finals of the 2026 Asian Cup, participated in the 2023 World Cup and won the 2022 AFF Cup for women. They have also defeated the Vietnam women's team several times in recent years. In the semi-finals of the AFF Cup for women 2022, the Philippines beat the Vietnamese women's team 4-0. At the 2023 SEA Games, they continued to beat Huynh Nhu and her teammates with a score of 2-1.
The Australian U23 women's team is also a potential opponent with many strengths. They debuted in the ASEAN Women's Cup in 2022 and played quite well. With a strong football foundation and good physique, the Australian U23 women's team promises to cause many difficulties for their opponents.
Head coach Joe Palatsides said that the 2025 ASEAN Women's Cup is a good opportunity for his students to gain more experience in international competitions. Although the squad has a number of players who have not played professionally, he still aims for high goals in the tournament.
Development is an important part of what we are doing, but we also came to Vietnam to win, he said. We want our players to take on the challenge, rise up and understand the meaning of wearing the Australian women's team jersey.
The Myanmar women's team is also a tough opponent. However, in recent years, their international achievements have declined quite well. They have not qualified for the 2026 Asian Cup. Having to compete with the Philippines and Australia U23 will be a big challenge for this two-time Southeast Asian champion team.
