Coach Mai Duc Chung's team has successfully passed the 2026 Asian Cup qualifiers, after 3 consecutive wins. Bich Thuy and her teammates easily defeated the Maldives 7-0, UAE 6-0 and Guam 4-0 teams.
This result helped the Vietnam women's team participate in the Asian Women's Football Cup for the 10th time. Currently, the list of women's teams participating in the 2026 Asian Cup has been revealed almost completely.
According to the schedule, the 2026 Asian Cup will take place in Australia from March 1 to 21, 2026, with the participation of 12 teams. Australia will host the match. The three teams including China, Japan and South Korea did not compete in the qualifying round, participating in the final round thanks to being in the Top 3 for their achievements at the 2022 Asian Cup.
Vietnam qualified with Bangladesh, Philippines, India, Taiwan (China), DPRK, Uzbekistan. The remaining rankings in Group A will be determined in the coming time when the qualifying matches take place between the women's teams of Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Singapore and Bhutan.
The draw for the 2026 Asian Cup will take place on July 29 in Sydney (Australia). For the first time, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will base on the FIFA rankings to determine the seed teams and divide the draw groups. In previous times, the AFC will rely on the results of the previous Asian Cup and the qualifiers as a basis for dividing the seeds.
With a world ranking of 37, the Vietnam women's team will be divided into the second seed group along with China and Korea. The No. 1 seed group includes Japan, Australia and the DPRK. Meanwhile, the Philippines, Taiwan (China) and Uzbekistan will be in seed group number 3. As for Bangladesh, India and the team that qualified in Group A will be in seed group number 4.
The 2026 Asian Cup will be divided into 3 groups, each group has 4 teams from 4 different groups. According to this principle, the Vietnamese women's team will not have to meet the Korean and Chinese women's teams in the group stage because they are both in Group 2. Coach Mai Duc Chung's team will face 1 of 3 teams Australia, Japan or the DPRK and two other teams from groups 3 and 4.
The 2026 Asian Cup is also a qualifying round for the 2027 Women's World Cup. In addition to the 6 direct spots, Asia also has 2 representatives participating in the intercontinental play-off round, competing with teams from other continents.
That shows that the opportunity for the Vietnamese team to participate in the 2027 World Cup is very large. However, to make that happen, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team need to be carefully prepared. After the draw results, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) will certainly have a plan to support the team best.
Currently in Asia, in addition to stability in the top teams, the teams in the bottom teams are making a lot of progress like Uzbekistan and India. Therefore, if there is no careful and thoughtful preparation, the Vietnam women's team will face many challenges at the 2026 Asian Cup.
