According to the new announcement of the AFC, tournaments will no longer use artificial turf including: men's and women's Asian Cup qualifiers, World Cup qualifiers (from the second qualifying round), women's Olympic qualifiers, AFC Champions League Elite, AFC Champions League Two and AFC Women's Champions League.
These are all large, highly competitive playgrounds and are the goals of many football regions in the region, including Vietnam.
The removal of artificial turf from official tournaments is considered a positive signal for teams that are used to playing on natural turf.
For Vietnamese football, this is even more meaningful, because in recent years, national teams have often encountered disadvantages when playing on artificial pitches in Singapore or the Philippines, these are also the two countries that use this type of pitch at many levels of competition.
At the end of 2024, during his time leading the Vietnam national team, coach Kim Sang-sik and his students competed on artificial turf in both Singapore and the Philippines.
He admitted that the conditions of the pitch had significantly affected the way the players deployed their playing style and performance.
Previously, in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup, the Vietnam team played at Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila and won 2-0 against the host Philippines.
Not only the national team, some Vietnamese clubs have also had to visit on artificial turf in the framework of continental tournaments.
Nam Dinh drew 3-3 with Tampines Rovers of Singapore in the match of the AFC Champions League Two.
