Futsal 

Vietnamese women's futsal players will begin training next month to prepare for the AFC Women's Futsal Asian Cup while targeting a World Cup slot in 2023. Photos of VFF

HÀ NỘI — The women's futsal team have their eyes set firmly on their next tournament, the 2025 AFC Women's Futsal Asian Cup, after coming top of the regional competition.

Việt Nam just defeated arch-rival Thailand last week to become queens of Southeast Asia.

Coach Nguyễn Đình Hoàng and his players will have only a couple of weeks to rest before returning to intensive training in HCM City in mid-December for the continental tournament's qualifier. 

Việt Nam are in Group D with Chinese Taipei, Macao and host Myanmar, with games January 15-20.

Group A gathers Thailand, Lebanon, Bahrain, Palestine and Iraq. Group B includes Indonesia, Hong Kong, Pakistan, India and Kyrgyzstan. Group C features Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Australia, the Philippines and Kuwait.

Under the rules, the best third-placed teams from each of the four groups will advance to the final tournament, along with the four group winners and runners-up. 

"We played Chinese Taipei at recent friendly tournament in Thailand. They have high quality players and Myanmar will be a tough rival as they are host of the tournament, while we have almost no info on Macao," said Hoàng.

"But in general, I think this is a favourable group for Việt Nam and we have good chance to qualify for the finals.

“Also, we are in a group of four so we have an advantage of playing fewer games than the teams in the other groups. It means that we would have more time to rest and retain better physical fitness," said Hoàng. 

Coach Nguyễn Đình Hoàng believes in his team and has high hopes of success in the upcoming tournament. -- Photo of VFF

The finals will be held between May 7 and 18 May, 2025 in China and serve as the qualifying round for the inaugural 2025 FIFA Futsal Women's World Cup in the Philippines.

As Asian number four and world number 11, Việt Nam will need a top three finish to secure a slot.

"Players will gather for training in the next few weeks. They may have training courses abroad or the VFF (Việt Nam Football Federation) will invite some teams to Việt Nam for friendly matches. It will depend on the finals' draw result," VFF Vice President Trần Anh Tú said.

"We are world number eleven so we hope that we would avoid world powerhouses such as Japan and Iran in the early stages, so that we can advance to knock-out stage. It is not easy but we are still setting that World Cup target."

Coach Hoàng admitted that getting a chance to play in the largest global tournament was a tough task.

"We can make it, but it won't be easy. We will have to strive hard," he said. VNS