On the afternoon of October 2, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held a draw for the 2026 U23 Asian Cup finals in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). U23 Vietnam fell into Group A with host U23 Saudi Arabia, U23 Jordan and U23 Kyrgyzstan.
U23 Saudi Arabia is the host team and is seeded number one. The classification of seeds is based on the results of the last 3 periods (2020, 2022 and 2024). Thanks to 2 consecutive quarter-finals, U23 Vietnam is in seed group number 2, along with U23 Korea, U23 Australia and Qatar.
Group B includes U23 Japan, U23 Qatar, U23 UAE and U23 Syria. Group C includes U23 Uzbekistan, U23 Korea, U23 Iran and U23 Lebanon. Meanwhile, Group D brings together U23 Iraq, U23 Australia, U23 Thailand and U23 China.
In the past, U23 Vietnam lost to U23 Saudi Arabia 0-2 in the quarter-finals of 2022, drew with U23 Jordan 0-0 in the group stage of 2020 and lost 1-3 in 2016. U23 Kyrgyzstan is a rookie of the tournament, participating in the final round for the first time.
In the qualifying round, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team won Group C after defeating U23 Bangladesh, U23 Singapore, and U23 Yemen. Apart from U23 Vietnam, Southeast Asia only has U23 Thailand participating, while U23 Indonesia cannot qualify.
The 2026 U23 Asian Cup finals will take place from January 7 to 25, 2026. This year's tournament is not counted as an Olympic qualifier. U23 Japan is currently the most successful team with 2 championships (2016, 2024). U23 Vietnam still holds the historical milestone of being the runner-up in 2018.
