Mr. Mai Duc Chung is a veteran coach of Vietnamese women's football. Under his leadership, the Vietnamese women's national football team has won 6 SEA Games gold medals, won the Southeast Asian championship, as well as won a ticket to the 2023 World Cup.
After the 2023 World Cup, he intended to retire but was persuaded by the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) to stay. The same thing also happened after the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand. VFF extended the contract with Mr. Mai Duc Chung for another 4 months for him to lead the Vietnamese women's national team to compete in the 2026 Asian Women's Football Championship, taking place in Australia from March 1 to March 21.
Before this tournament, the homepage of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) had an article about Mr. Mai Duc Chung. "I am old and want to spend time resting with my family after the difficulties in 2023. But because of my career, love and passion for this job, along with the invitation from the leaders of the Vietnam Football Federation, I decided to return once again," Mr. Mai Duc Chung shared with AFC.
This strategist emphasized that he has been associated with Vietnamese women's football for more than 30 years. Thanks to the attention and support from industry leaders and football fans nationwide, Vietnamese women's football has continuously developed.
According to AFC, despite his old age, Mr. Mai Duc Chung is still constantly striving to bring women's football in Vietnam to develop further.
He said: "We have thought a lot about how to continue to improve.Especially now, in Southeast Asia, not only us but many other countries are also very interested in women's football, investing heavily in training and competition to achieve good results.
That is really encouraging, and it makes us very happy about the future of women's football in the region.
Therefore, we are even more determined to dedicate ourselves. Currently, we are focusing on training young players from clubs and provinces where women's football is developing, including in schools and youth training programs.
At the 2026 Asian Championship, the Vietnamese women's team is in Group C with the Japan, India, and Taiwan (China) teams. The Vietnamese women's team is assessed to have many opportunities to win tickets to the quarter-finals. In case of reaching the semi-finals, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team will win tickets to the 2027 Women's World Cup.
This time, we have set very high goals and are determined to try our best.Of course, there are many strong teams such as Australia, Japan, North Korea and South Korea.In addition, there are also teams competing directly with us such as Iran, Taiwan (China), and Uzbekistan.
Our goal is determination and overcoming all difficulties.We hope the national women's football team can once again win a ticket to the World Cup," coach Mai Duc Chung concluded.
