The most important tournament for Vietnamese football in 2025 will be the final qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup. The draw results put the team in Group F, which is considered easy with opponents Malaysia, Nepal and Laos.
Vietnam will compete in the qualifying round from March 25, 2025 to March 31, 2026, in a home and away format. The group leader will qualify for the 2027 Asian Cup.
In this group, Vietnam is rated the highest. The team defeated Laos 4-1 at the recent ASEAN Cup 2024. Nepal - ranked 175th in the world is one of the weakest teams in Asia. The main competitor of Kim Sang-sik and his team is Malaysia.
Vietnam's Southeast Asian neighbors had a very turbulent 2024, when they were eliminated early in the group stage of the 2024 ASEAN Cup and failed in the World Cup qualifiers. Therefore, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has taken a series of strong actions, aiming for a high goal in 2025.
As for the Malaysian team, they will be led by new coach Peter Cklamovski - an Australian. Mr. Peter Cklamovski was an assistant to Ange Postecoglou at the Australian team, with the team that won the Asian Cup in 2015. Moreover, he also spent time as an assistant, leading clubs in Japan.
The goal that FAM set for Peter Cklamovski is very clear. That is to help the Malaysian team win a ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup and bring the team into the world's Top 100. To support the new coach, FAM has added a series of other experts to the Malaysian team.
According to the schedule, the Vietnamese team will open the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers with a home match against Laos on March 25. On June 10, Kim Sang-sik and his team will visit Malaysia. This will be an important match in the competition for the top spot in the group for the Vietnamese team.
Mission with Vietnam U23 team
In addition to the Vietnam team, coach Kim Sang-sik will also lead the Vietnam U23 team, aiming for two major tournaments.
First, in September 2025, U23 Vietnam will compete in the U23 Asian qualifiers. Over the years, U23 Vietnam has competed successfully in this playground, passing the qualifiers 5 times in a row, with the peak being the runner-up of the U23 Asian Cup 2018.
In December 2025, U23 Vietnam will attend the SEA Games in Thailand, with the goal of changing the color of the medal. U23 Vietnam won the gold medal at the 2019 and 2022 SEA Games but only won the bronze medal at the 2023 SEA Games.
Therefore, the goal of Mr. Kim Sang-sik and his students is nothing other than bringing home a SEA Games medal for Vietnamese football.
