HÀ NỘI — The International Federation of Association Football has praised Việt Nam’s futsal team and U-19 team via its website fifa.com.

“In Asia, qualifying for a FIFA tournament has long been regarded as a major achievement – even for the continent’s best. And while preliminary competitions used to be dominated by a few traditional powers, new contenders have emerged over recent years to challenge the old order. Among these fast-developing football nations are Việt Nam, who twice made history in the past year by qualifying for two FIFA competitions for the first time,” said the website.

“First of all, the Vietnamese stunned even their own supporters by finishing among the top four in last February’s 2016 AFC Futsal Championship to reach the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia. They went on to wrap up a memorable year by qualifying for the prestigious FIFA U-20 World Cup, which will be held in Korea Republic next year, with an impressive preliminary campaign that included an unexpected victory over the tournament hosts, Bahrain,” the website added.

Aside from their World Cup successes, Việt Nam also qualified for the recent U-16 and U-23 AFC Asian Championships. — VNS