THE DREAM OF WORLD C UP IS NOT OUT OF REACH
2025 is considered a busy year for Vietnamese football, when most of the teams (both men and women) will enter the big playground. In particular, U.17 Vietnam and the Vietnamese women's futsal team will compete in the Asian finals, where a ticket to the World Cup is not out of reach.
U.17 Vietnam wins ticket to AFC U.17 Championship 2025
U.17 Vietnam will participate in the 2025 AFC U-17 Championship in Saudi Arabia after qualifying with 1 win and 2 draws. Here, the 16 teams participating in the final round are divided into 4 groups, each group has 4 teams. What is special about next year's tournament is that the teams present in the quarter-finals of the AFC U-17 Championship will automatically win tickets to the 2025 AFC U-17 World Cup. The reason is that the number of places in the final round of the AFC U-17 Championship will increase to 48 teams from next year, of which Asia has 8 places. Therefore, if they pass the group stage, U.17 Vietnam will reach the World Cup for the first time in history.
VFF President Tran Quoc Tuan speaks at the VFF Annual Congress
The best achievement of U.17 Vietnam in the U.17 Asian Cup finals was reaching the semi-finals (in 2000). Then in 2016, the team led by coach Dinh The Nam reached the quarter-finals. These were difficult periods for Vietnamese football, but the U.17 team still made it happen. That means if they prepare well, coach Roland's team can create a surprise.
The Vietnamese women's futsal team also has a chance to go to the World Cup. Early next year, coach Nguyen Dinh Hoang and his team will participate in the Asian qualifying round in Myanmar. After that, if they get a ticket to the final round, the Vietnamese women's futsal team will enter the race with the goal of winning one of the first three positions (champion, runner-up or third place) to attend the World Cup. The Vietnamese women's futsal team is currently ranked 11th in the world and fourth in Asia, after Iran, Japan and Thailand. To compete for a ticket to the World Cup, Thanh Hang and her teammates must overcome at least one of these three opponents.
At the 9th Annual Congress of 2024 (term 2022 - 2026) yesterday, November 22, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) outlined plans and goals for the Vietnam U.17 and Vietnam women's futsal teams. Specifically, the Vietnam U.17 will train abroad, with a complete force from the coaching staff to the players. VFF Vice President Tran Anh Tu affirmed that the goal of the Vietnam U.17 is to pass the group stage, which means getting a ticket to the World Cup.
For the Vietnamese women's futsal team, after winning the Southeast Asian championship, the whole team will return home to rest, then gather at the end of November to prepare for the 2025 Asian futsal qualifiers (taking place in January 2025). "The Vietnamese women's futsal team has 16 players, including 9 players from Thai Son Nam Club in Ho Chi Minh City, the remaining 7 players from other teams such as Hanoi and Ha Nam gathered late due to competing in the National Cup taking place at the end of November. When the team has enough players, they will practice with the goal of being present at the finals. VFF has planned to train abroad, or invite foreign teams to Vietnam to compete. Thanks to the agreement with the Japanese partner, VFF can bring the Vietnamese women's futsal team to train here," said Mr. Tran Anh Tu. Talking about the goal of participating in the World Cup through the Asian finals, VFF leaders said it is "feasible", but requires careful preparation.
VFF IS PROFITABLE
According to the report at the Annual General Meeting, VFF achieved total revenue of 286 billion VND, total expenditure of 284 billion VND in 2024, profit of 2.3 billion VND. In 2025, VFF aims to achieve total revenue of 270 billion VND, expenditure of 266 billion VND (profit of 4 billion VND).
VAR technology is one of the items that VFF focuses on investing in 2025, including 16 billion VND from FIFA. In the current V-League, Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF) owns 4 VAR vehicles to cover all football fields in the country. There are rounds where all 7 matches have the presence of VAR, to improve the quality of the match and increase the accuracy of referee decisions.
In addition, the source of investment for the expertise of national teams and technical analysis continues to be maintained. The teams will be supplemented with foreign training and training equipment, in order to prepare for important tournaments such as the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers (with the Vietnam team), the 33rd SEA Games (with the Vietnam U.22 and Vietnam women's teams), the Asian Futsal Championship (with the Vietnam women's futsal team), the 2025 Asian U.17 Championship (with the Vietnam U.17 team)...
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