Among the opponents of U20 Vietnam, U20 Iran is considered the leading candidate as belonging to the No. 1 seed group and possessing a traditional youth football background in Asia. In addition, U20 DPRK and U20 Palestine are also considered highly competitive opponents, promising to create a fierce race for a ticket to the next round.
Currently, the core force of U20 Vietnam is continuing to improve their expertise through training and international competitions. In the immediate future, many players will participate in the 2026 U19 Southeast Asian Championship in Indonesia to accumulate more experience and improve their competitive spirit before entering the continental arena.
According to the format, 32 teams participating in the qualifying round are divided into 8 groups, each group including 4 teams, playing in a single round-robin format from August 31 to September 6, 2026. At the end of the qualifying round, the 8 first-placed teams and 7 second-placed teams with the best results will win the right to participate in the 2027 AFC U20 Championship finals in China.
Notably, AFC is applying a two-level competition model for the first time, including the qualifying stage and the development stage. Teams with higher rankings will compete in the qualifying round, while the remaining 12 teams compete in the development stage to increase opportunities for competition and improve their level.
According to the new regulations, the 6 bottom-ranked teams with the worst performance in the qualifying round will be relegated to compete in the development stage in the next round. Conversely, the 3 best group winners and the 3 best group runners-up of the development stage will be promoted to the qualifying round.
According to announcements from AFC, Vietnam is one of the 8 countries hosting the group stages of the 2027 AFC U20 Asian Cup qualifiers, along with Bahrain, Cambodia, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Qatar, Thailand and Uzbekistan.
