The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced that the draw for the 2027 Asian Cup finals will take place at 1:00 AM on May 10 (Vietnam time). The event will be held at Salwa Palace in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia and broadcast live on AFC's digital platforms.
Accordingly, the Vietnamese team is ranked in the No. 3 seed group. The grouping is based on the FIFA ranking updated to April 1st, thereby determining the position of 24 teams participating in the tournament.
In the 3rd seed group with the Vietnamese team are Bahrain, Thailand, China, Palestine and Tajikistan. This means that coach Kim Sang-sik's team will avoid the above-mentioned teams in the group stage.
Meanwhile, the No. 1 seed group includes top Asian strong teams such as Saudi Arabia, Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia and Uzbekistan. The No. 2 seed group includes Qatar, Iraq, Jordan, UAE, Oman and Syria. The No. 4 seed group includes Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Kuwait, Singapore, North Korea and the winning team in the play-off match between Lebanon and Yemen.
According to the format, 24 teams are divided into 6 groups, each group with 4 teams. The top two teams in each group and 4 third-placed teams with the best results will enter the knockout round.
AFC also confirmed that host Saudi Arabia is fixed in position A1 and will play the opening match on January 7, 2027 at King Fahd Sports City Stadium in Riyadh. This is the last Asian Cup to take place in a odd-year cycle before AFC adjusts the schedule in the future.
The 2027 Asian Cup will take place from January 7 to February 5, 2027 in Saudi Arabia. Representatives of the Vietnam Football Federation and Mr. Kim Sang-sik are likely to attend the draw for the group stage.
