Asian Cup, Euro, Olympics or AFF Cup are the sports events worth waiting for for Vietnamese fans in the new year.
The Asian Cup is Asia's biggest football event, taking place from January 12 to February 10. in Qatar, with 24 teams participating, divided into six groups of four teams each. The teams play a round robin, calculate points, select the top two teams in each group, and four third-place teams with the best records to advance to the round of 16.
Vietnam is participating in the tournament for the third time, in Group D with Japan, Iraq and Indonesia. Coach Philippe Troussier and his team will play Japan on January 14, then Indonesia on January 19, both in Doha. In the final round on January 24, the team will meet Iraq in Al Rayyan. The Asian Cup team is missing players who participated in the previous tournament, such as Dang Van Lam, Doan Van Hau, Nguyen Cong Phuong and Phan Van Duc, due to injuries or poor performance. In 2019, Coach Park Hang-seo and his team reached the quarter-finals, only to stop after a narrow defeat to Japan. This opponent reached the final, but lost 1-3 to Qatar in the final match. The African Cup of Nations (CAN) starts and ends just one day after the Asian Cup, in the Ivory Coast, with a similar competition format. The tournament attracts attention from European football, because many players will leave their clubs to return to participate in the CAN, according to FIFA regulations. 18 out of 20 Premier League clubs have had to release players to participate in this tournament, except Man City and Newcastle.
The brightest star of the CAN is Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah, as he aims to help Egypt improve on their runners-up finish last time out. Chelsea have also had to release striker Nicolas Jackson during this period, as have Tottenham midfielder Yves Bissouma. Manchester United are negotiating with Cameroon for goalkeeper Andre Onana to return later than planned. The biggest martial arts event of the year is probably the heavyweight title fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk on February 17 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This will be the first heavyweight title fight since 2000, when Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield on points.
Fury, 36, from England, is 2.06 m tall and holds the WBC belt after 35 unbeaten matches. Usyk, 37, from Ukraine, is 1.91 m tall and is the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO and The Ring champion, with 21 wins. The winner of this match will unify the belts and be considered the absolute champion of the heaviest weight class in boxing. After the Asian Cup, Qatar continues to take advantage of its World Cup-class facilities to host the AFC U23 Championship from April 15 to May 3. The tournament has 16 teams, divided into four groups of four teams each, playing a round-robin, with the top two teams advancing to the quarter-finals. The top three teams will qualify for the 2024 Olympics, while the fourth-placed team will compete for a play-off spot with an African representative.
Coach Troussier held a press conference after the 1-0 victory over Yemen at Viet Tri Stadium on the evening of September 9 in the qualifying round of Group C of the 2024 AFC U23 Championship. Photo: Hieu Luong
Vietnam have qualified for the fifth consecutive time, and will be in Group D with Uzbekistan, Kuwait and Malaysia. This is a great opportunity for Troussier and his team to get through the group stage, and dream of a place in Paris. If they finish second in Group D, they will meet the winner of Group C in the quarter-finals, most likely Saudi Arabia. Vietnam will play their first match against Kuwait on April 17 at Al Wakrah, then play Malaysia on April 20 at Al Rayyan. The team's toughest match, against Uzbekistan, will be on April 23 at Khalifa International Stadium. The highest quality football tournament at the European team level this year is the Euro finals , taking place from June 14 to July 14 in Germany. The 24 participating teams are divided into six groups of four teams each, with the same format as the Asian Cup and CAN.
England have a chance to win the title for the first time, with a squad of players experienced in the Premier League and other top leagues, especially striker Harry Kane and midfielder Jude Bellingham. World Cup runners-up France are of course also candidates for the title, with star Kylian Mbappe, while hosts Germany are showing signs of decline. Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo will also take part in the tournament at the age of 39 with Portugal, aiming to repeat the feat of 2016. Last time, Italy won the title after beating England on penalties in the final at Wembley. This time the defending champions are in the toughest group, facing Spain, Croatia and Albania. At the same time as the Euro, the Copa America will take place in the US from June 20 to July 14. The Copa America was originally only for 10 South American teams, but the next tournament will see six North and Central American teams participate. The 16 teams are divided into four groups of four, playing a round-robin, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the quarter-finals.
The brightest star of the tournament is of course the owner of eight Golden Balls Lionel Messi, as he aims to defend the championship with Argentina. Messi and his teammates are in Group A with Peru, Chile and Canada or Trinidad & Tobago. Lionel Scaloni's big opponents are Brazil and Uruguay, but these two teams are in a different final bracket with Argentina. The biggest sporting event of the year is the Summer Olympics , taking place from July 26 to August 11 in France. The Games will gather more than 10,000 athletes, competing in 32 sports, 48 disciplines, with 329 sets of medals. Paris will be the second city to host the Olympics three times, after London. The Games also celebrate the 100th anniversary of France hosting the Olympics in 1924.
Vietnam has secured three spots at the 2024 Olympics, with cyclist Nguyen Thi That, shooter Trinh Thu Vinh and swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang all in the team. Badminton player Nguyen Thuy Linh is also almost certain to qualify, but she is aiming for a higher goal of being in the seeding group, so that she can be placed in an easier group. Last time, the team had 18 athletes participating, but did not win any medals. The athlete who came closest to a medal for Vietnam at the Tokyo Olympics was weightlifter Hoang Thi Duyen, who finished fifth overall in the 59kg category. The UEFA Champions League (formerly known as the C1 Cup) will also celebrate its 70th anniversary this year, with a completely new group stage format. The tournament will add four more spots to the group stage, with a total of 36 teams competing from September 17, 2024 to January 29, 2025. This is the first time the tournament will take place in January, with two rounds of matches in this phase.
The 36 teams will not be divided into groups, but can all meet each other. They will be divided into four seeding pots of nine teams each. Each team will play eight group stage matches, against one team from each pot, home and away, to determine points. The eight teams with the highest points in the group stage will go straight to the round of 16. The teams from ninth to 24th will play a two-legged play-off to reach the round of 16. The final will be played at the Allianz Stadium in Munich, Germany on May 31, 2025. There is no World Cup for senior players in 11-a-side football this year, but FIFA will host the futsal World Cup from September 14 to October 6 in Uzbekistan. Vietnam have participated in the tournament for two consecutive years.
Diego Giustozzi's team will compete in the Asian Cup in Thailand from April 17 to April 28, to compete for a place in Uzbekistan. The Asian Cup consists of 16 teams, divided into four groups, playing a round-robin to select the top two teams from each group to enter the quarter-finals. Vietnam is in Group A with hosts Thailand, Myanmar and China. The four teams that reach the semi-finals will qualify for the World Cup. If Uzbekistan reaches the semi-finals, the four losing teams in the quarter-finals will compete for a fifth place for Asia. The last notable event of the year for Vietnam is the AFF Cup , taking place from November 23 to December 21. The tournament will be renamed from the AFF Cup to the ASEAN Cup, for Southeast Asian football teams. Nine teams will go straight to the group stage, with only Timor Leste having to compete for a play-off spot with Brunei.
Thailand have won the last two editions, while Vietnam are aiming for their first title since 2018. The tournament has been held 14 times, since 1996, with four champions. Thailand leads with seven titles, Singapore has won four times, Vietnam has won twice and Malaysia once. VnExpress Source link
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