On the evening of September 6, U20 Vietnam lost 1-3 to U20 Iran, thereby ranking last in Group C with a score of 0 points and a goal difference of -6. In Group F, U20 Turkmenistan ranked last due to a 2-3 reverse defeat to UAE. In Group G, U20 Cambodia lost 0-5 to Kuwait but also had 3 points because they had won against Yemen on the opening day.
With this achievement, U20 Vietnam is among the bottom 6 teams with the worst results, losing the right to participate in the qualifiers and falling into the Development Phase (Development) group. This is a round that only includes weak teams such as Nepal, Bhutan, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Northern Mariana Islands...
According to regulations, U20 Vietnam is definitely not allowed to participate in the 2029 AFC U20 Championship qualifiers and must play in the Development group. To regain the right to participate in the 2031 AFC U20 Championship qualifiers, U20 Vietnam must have good enough results, this is also the time for the U17 Vietnam players participating in the World Cup to move to the U20 level.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) decided to apply a new format including qualifying rounds and development rounds from the 2027 AFC U20 Championship. This move aims to promote competitiveness and enhance professional development for youth teams.
AFC uses the achievements of the most recent years including 2018, 2023 and 2025 to group this year's tournament. 32 teams with the best achievements will participate in the qualifying round and Vietnam will be in this group. The remaining 12 teams will compete in the development round.
The qualifying round of the tournament has 8 groups, played in a round-robin format and selected 8 first-placed teams and 7 second-placed teams with the best results to play in the final round.
The bottom 6 teams with the worst performance will participate in the development round, and the top 3 teams in the group in the development round will play in the qualifying round in 2029.
