Vietnam Women's Futsal: Fueling the World Cup Dream

NDO - With the championship of the NSDF Women's Futsal Championship 2024, the Vietnamese women's futsal team showed their strength and potential to compete for a ticket to the first Women's Futsal World Cup to be held in the Philippines in 2025. Nhan Dan Newspaper had a conversation with Mr. Tran Anh Tu, Vice President of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), about the strategy and goals for developing women's futsal in the country in the coming time.

Mr. Tran Anh Tu, Vice President of Vietnam Football Federation (VFF).

Reporter: The Vietnamese women's futsal team recently won the international friendly tournament in Thailand. What initial achievements have the VFF and especially the women's national futsal championship achieved, sir? Mr. Tran Anh Tu: With the goal of developing futsal to lay a foundation and a solid foothold for women's futsal in the regional and continental arenas, despite many difficulties, the VFF has made great efforts and determined to successfully organize the first season of the Women's National Futsal Championship in 2022. Up to now, after three seasons of organization, the tournament is showing steady progress and is an indispensable playground for players. This is an opportunity for everyone to compete, gain experience and improve their expertise. Not only that, coaches can look for outstanding faces, summon Reporter to the national women's futsal team. Through each tournament, the quality of the team has changed significantly. The latest international friendly trophy is also a proud result.

The Vietnamese women's futsal team performed impressively and won the international friendly tournament in Thailand. (Photo: VFF)

Reporter: As the person who has the best grasp of the overall picture of women's futsal in the country, what are your thoughts on the development of this sport in the coming time? Mr. Tran Anh Tu: In fact, in the process of organizing tournaments, we have noticed that the development level of women's futsal is only concentrated in some localities with movements such as: Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Ha Nam. The first time the National Women's Futsal Championship was held, the tournament had four participating teams, including Phong Phu Ha Nam I, Phong Phu Ha Nam II, Hanoi and Thai Son Nam District 8. In 2023, the number of teams increased to 5. Of which, Phong Phu Ha Nam 1 and 2 merged into Phong Phu Ha Nam. Thai Son Nam District 8 changed its name to Thai Son Nam-Ho Chi Minh City. The tournament welcomed two new representatives, Ho Chi Minh City Club and Son Luxsen. In the third season, the tournament returned to four teams, including host Phong Phu Ha Nam, Thai Son Nam-Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This is an issue that VFF is very concerned about and is working hard with localities to find suitable solutions, in order to ensure that the current number of teams continues to be maintained and develop further. To have more women's futsal teams, youth training also needs to be focused on and the socialization model from centers, schools, etc. should be expanded. Moreover, it is easy to see that the personnel of the teams are mostly players and coaches who have transferred from the 11-player field. There is a lack of qualified coaches in localities. Not to mention the inherent problems such as training and competition facilities, and operating costs of clubs during difficult economic times. In addition, to bring futsal tournaments and especially the national championship closer to fans, we also need the attention of sponsors to accompany and sponsor the tournament, in order to further improve the quality as well as increase the reward level, thereby creating excitement for the players and participating teams...

The Vietnamese women's futsal team is showing impressive performance. (Photo: VFF)

Reporter: What solutions has VFF had to overcome these problems, sir? Mr. Tran Anh Tu: Although there are still many difficulties (such as training and competition facilities, operating costs of clubs, etc.), the national futsal championship system has gradually become an important and meaningful playground for players, thereby contributing to creating a foundation for the development of the national women's futsal team. This is thanks to the spirit of community responsibility of the tournament participants, the support of the host localities, the attention of fans and the media. With the determination to develop the national women's futsal tournament stably and strongly, VFF has soon brought women's futsal into the non-professional tournament system as well as continued to invest in upgrading the quality of the tournament, in order to spread the attractive images of this sport to the community. We are also trying to find and get the necessary support from the host localities as well as the teams participating in the tournament. VFF is promoting and providing maximum support to localities in training qualified coaches and officials to equip them with knowledge and skills, update training methods to perfect the team structure, and improve the quality of training and coaching of women's futsal teams. Expanding the number of host localities is also one of the conditions that determine success. VFF would like to thank Ha Nam province for actively supporting VFF in organizing the last three seasons. We hope that matches in the following seasons will be held in many other localities across the country, contributing to promoting and spreading the love of women's futsal closer to domestic fans. Reporter: In 2025, the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) will organize the first women's futsal World Cup in the Philippines. What strategy has VFF built to develop this sport in the coming time? Mr. Tran Anh Tu: Developing and training young women's football in general and women's futsal in particular has always been a target task in the development orientation of VFF. As a management and organizing agency, VFF is maintaining and organizing a system of women's football tournaments for all age groups according to the AFC tournament system including U16, U19, women's national cup and women's national championship. For the futsal tournament system, there are National Championships for men and women, National Futsal Cup for men and in 2024, the first U20 men's futsal tournament will be held. VFF will continue to improve the quality of the futsal tournament system in general and women's futsal in particular, thereby contributing to creating a foundation for the national futsal team to develop and achieve high achievements in the region and continent. Thank you very much!

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Source: https://nhandan.vn/futsal-nu-viet-nam-tiep-suc-cho-giac-mo-world-cup-post834716.html