The Vietnamese team rose from 95th place in the FIFA rankings in September to 94th place in October. In Asia, coach Philippe Troussier's team maintained its 15th place and continued to lead the Southeast Asian region, 18 places ahead of the second-placed team, Thailand.
Vietnam team (white shirt) in the match against the Korean team
In October, the Vietnamese team played 3 international friendly matches, including 2 official matches according to FIFA Days regulations. Including the match losing to the Chinese team (ranked 80th in the world) with a score of 0-2 and the Korean team (ranked 26th in the world) with a score of 0-6, a total of 6.89 points were deducted. The remaining match losing to the Uzbekistan team (ranked 75th in the world) with a score of 0-2, the match did not count for points.
Contrary to the prediction that the FIFA rankings would be reduced, the Vietnamese team rose in rank. In particular, the opponents ranked close to their positions were either heavily relegated or unable to rise. Specifically, the Armenian team in the European region (ranked 91 in September) fell 4 places due to a deduction of 20.22 points, because they lost to Latvia (ranked 136) with a score of 0-2 in the EURO 2024 qualifiers and lost to North Macedonia 1-3 (friendly).
Kyrgyzstan (ranked 96th in September) also dropped one place, after losing 0-2 to Bahrain and 0-1 to the Philippines (friendly). Palestine (ranked 97th in September) did not play this time and withdrew from the Merdeka tournament in Malaysia, so they also had no chance of surpassing Vietnam.
In Southeast Asia, the Thai team had a European tour where they lost 0-8 to Georgia and drew 1-1 with Estonia. Thailand was deducted 4.06 points, still ranked 112th in the world and 21st in Asia.
Indonesia, Vietnam's Group F opponent in the 2026 World Cup Asian qualifiers, moved up two places to 145th in the world thanks to two wins in the preliminary round against Brunei with a total score of 12-0. However, Indonesia is still ranked 27th in Asia and 5th in Southeast Asia. Malaysia and the Philippines both dropped 3 and 6 places in October, to 137th and 138th in the world (24th and 25th in Asia, 3rd and 4th in Southeast Asia).
The Vietnamese team (left) is encouraged as it moves up the FIFA rankings in preparation for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in November.
The remaining team in the same group with Vietnam in Group F of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia is Iraq, who played a friendly tournament in Jordan in October and both ended in draws. Including a 0-0 draw (lost on penalties) against Qatar and a 2-2 draw (won on penalties) against the host Jordan in the match for third place. Iraq still holds the 69th position in the world and 8th in Asia.
In November, the Vietnamese team will officially enter the opening round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia in Group F, with two matches, including against the Philippines team at Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila on November 16, then returning to My Dinh Stadium to host the Iraq team on November 21.
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