The aspiration to reach further of Vietnamese football in 2026

Going into history

2025 can be considered a pivotal year for Vietnamese football teams to move towards the Asian arena. Up to now, 7 national teams including U23 men's team, U17 men's team, women's team, U20 women's team, U17 women's team, men's futsal team and women's futsal team have all played very well in the recent qualifying rounds, which is the premise for 7 "stars" to compete in the Asian finals in 2026. It should be added that previously, only Japanese football achieved similar achievements.

In addition, the Vietnamese men's team is likely to continue to participate in the Asian Cup finals. In the qualifiers, coach Kim Sang-sik's team temporarily ranked 2nd with 9 points.

Although ranked behind Malaysia due to 3 points less, the "Golden Star Warriors" can wait for a ruling from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) after the opponent was penalized for using illegal naturalized players. However, the Vietnamese men's team is still determined to defeat Malaysia in the second leg with determination and careful professional preparation.

The participation of national teams in continental tournaments next year is an affirmation of the deep and widespread development of football.

In terms of breadth, Vietnamese football develops both men's and women's football, futsal. Across Southeast Asia, only Thailand has reached this threshold. Other football backgrounds in the region such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore do not develop women's football; the Philippines is not strong in futsal, while Myanmar is gradually weakening in all of the above events," wrote the homepage of the Vietnam Football Federation.

Busy men's football

Going deeper into the details, in 2026, the Vietnamese men's team will participate in the ASEAN Cup. The tournament will take place from July 24 to August 26, after the 2026 World Cup closes.

With the position of defending champion, the "Golden Star Warriors" are highly appreciated by experts. In particular, the return of Doan Van Hau, Nguyen Xuan Son in the squad along with some naturalized strikers such as Hendrio, Gustavo promises to help the team increase their strength significantly.

Looking at the context of Indonesia and Malaysia promoting the naturalization process of foreign players or "hybrid" players playing football in European tournaments, it is really necessary for coach Kim Sang-sik to have more "generals" in the regional arena.

In addition, if the AFC has not issued a ruling related to the Malaysian team before March 31, 2026, this time milestone is also the "final" of the group stage of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers between Vietnam and Malaysia. The 0-4 defeat to the opponent in the first leg makes Vietnam temporarily more disadvantaged. However, that will be the motivation for Xuan Son and his teammates to be more determined to create a rare comeback in the history of the Asian tournament.

In addition to the National Men's Team, 2026 is also the "stage" of U23 Vietnam. After closing SEA Games 33 in Thailand, this team will immediately enter the journey in the Asian tournament. In the group that promises many surprises including U23 Kuwait, U23 Kyrgyzstan and host country Saudi Arabia, Van Khang and his teammates are confident that they can reach the knockout round of the tournament.

Based on the force trained from V.League and national teams in the past 3 years, the generation of players born in 2003–2005 is expected to continue writing new pages of history at the AFC U23 Championship, like the way seniors Tien Dung and Quang Hai once won the runner-up position in 2018.

In addition to the continental youth tournament, U23 Vietnam also competes at ASIAD 2026. The Asian Games being held from September 19 to October 4 in Nagoya (Japan), the opportunity for Van Truong - a bright talent in the current generation of young players - to recover from injury and accompany the team is very high. Previously, due to a knee ligament rupture at the Panda Cup 2025 friendly tournament, the captain of U23 Vietnam missed the SEA Games and the AFC U23 Championship finals. Therefore, ASIAD 2026 will be the last youth tournament for him and many teammates in this generation such as Dinh Bac, Van Khang, Van Truong, Phi Hoang... to dedicate themselves wholeheartedly, before closing a youth full of emotions.

Dreaming of the World Cup

With the U17 men's team, U17 women's team, U20 women's team and the Vietnam women's team, the 2026 Asian finals are opportunities for them to aim for the world arena. After SEA Games 33, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team immediately entered the preparation cycle for the continental tournament taking place in Australia from March 1st to March 21st.

Located in a group with India, Japan and Taiwan (China), the possibility of the Vietnamese women's team finishing second in the group and reaching the quarterfinals is within reach. This will be an important step forward for Huynh Nhu and her teammates to hope to compete for a ticket to the World Cup. Because, if they win in the quarterfinals, the Vietnamese women's team will participate in the world tournament for the second consecutive time, after a historic journey in New Zealand in 2023.

In case of defeat, the team still has a chance to compete for tickets through competition between losing teams in the quarter-finals or the intercontinental play-offs. This was once the journey that brought Vietnam to participate in the World Cup for the first time 3 years ago.

A similar regulation applies to the Vietnam U20 women's team when participating in the AFC U20 Women's Championship finals in Thailand from August 1, 2026. However, the Vietnam U20 women's team will face many challenges in the group stage because in addition to China, which is at a very high level, coach Okiyama Masahiko's team also has to face hosts Thailand and Bangladesh. Only the top two slots will reach the semi-finals, the Vietnam U20 women's team needs to make great efforts if they want to be present in the knockout round, before opening the door to Poland to participate in the World Cup in September.

Unlike their seniors, Vietnam U17 men's team has a wider door to the World Cup. Just being in the group of the top two teams in each group, coach Cristiano Roland's team is guaranteed a spot in the world tournament. A year ago, Vietnam U17 was already very close to the "gate of heaven". Therefore, in their return to the continental tournament, Nguyen Luc and his teammates are eager to conquer a ticket called the World Cup.