Vietnamese football stands shoulder to shoulder with Japan, sets unbelievable record that makes Asia admire

TPO - In 2025, all Vietnamese football representatives participating in the AFC qualifiers will advance as leaders. In Asia, only Japan has a 100% qualifying rate.

The U23 team led the AFC qualifiers and convincingly won their ticket to the next round.

Vietnam U17 crushed Malaysia U17 in the 2026 Asian qualifiers. Not only did they advance, coach Cristiano Roland's players also showed excellent form with 5 wins, scoring a total of 30 goals and conceding none.

U17 Vietnam has the second best qualifying result after U17 China. Strong football teams like Australia, Iraq or Iran cannot compare, even Oman, Iraq, Iran cannot pass the qualifying round.

The victory of the U17 team concluded a successful year for Vietnamese football at all levels when all representatives passed the Asian qualifying campaign. The format of each tournament may be different (in some tournaments, the second-placed team still won the ticket to continue) but 100% of the representatives of Vietnamese football topped their groups.

In men's football, the U17 and U23 teams both topped the AFC qualifiers and convincingly qualified. The futsal team also dominated the continental qualifiers, defeating direct opponents Lebanon 4-0.

In women's football, the U17, U20 and national teams also topped their groups with ease. The U17 team won both matches, conceding no goals. The U20 team crushed Kyrgyzstan, Hong Kong China and Singapore, scoring 16 goals and conceding none.

The national team, coached by Mai Duc Chung, had a similar record, winning all matches and keeping a clean sheet. Meanwhile, the futsal team led with 2 wins and 1 draw (2-2 against Chinese Taipei).

Thus, the draw of the women's futsal team against Chinese Taipei was the only time that Vietnamese football representatives failed to win in all Asian qualifying campaigns in 2025. Except for futsal, all men's and women's teams kept a clean sheet.

To honor the achievements of Vietnamese football, it should be known that in Asia, only Japan has a 100% qualifying rate. Iran, South Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia... which are the strongest football nations in the continent have all failed in at least one AFC campaign.

AFC tournaments that Vietnam has qualified to participate in 2025

2025 Asian Women's Futsal Championship

2026 AFC U20 Women's Championship

2026 AFC U17 Women's Championship

2026 Asian Women's Championship

AFC U23 Championship 2026

AFC U17 Championship 2026

2026 Asian Futsal Championship

Source: https://tienphong.vn/bong-da-viet-nam-sanh-vai-nhat-ban-lap-ky-luc-kho-tin-khien-chau-a-nguong-mo-post1800898.tpo