Vietnamese young players are developing better than anyone else in Southeast Asia thanks to this very special thing…

From 2018 to now, the Vietnam U23 team has won two Asian medals, three SEA Games gold medals, three consecutive Southeast Asian U23 championships, plus two AFF Cup titles at the national team level and one appearance at the U20 World Cup. None of this is a coincidence.

Vietnam dominates the region in terms of the number of titles.

In 2018, the Vietnam U23 team reached the final of the U23 Asian Championship, creating a miracle in Changzhou, stunning the whole of Asia. Eight years later, the Vietnam U23 team finished third in the continental U23 championship. Even more impressively, the bronze medal in 2026 is even better than the silver medal in 2018. On their journey to the bronze medal at the 2026 U23 Asian Championship, the Vietnamese team won a total of 5 matches (including 4 wins in matchtime and 1 win on penalties), defeating two representatives from the top 5 football nations in the continent: Saudi Arabia U23 and South Korea U23.

Vietnam's U.23 team has dominated Southeast Asia in terms of the number of titles won in recent years.

Photo: Nhat Thinh

Also on their journey to winning the bronze medal at the 2026 AFC U-23 Championship, the Vietnam U-23 team scored a total of 10 goals, the second highest in the tournament, only behind the 16 goals of the champions, Japan U-23: There was absolutely no element of luck surrounding the Vietnam U-23 team's performance in this year's tournament.

Between 2018 and 2026, the Vietnam U23 team won 3 gold medals (in 2019, 2022, and 2025) and 1 bronze medal at the SEA Games (2023), and won the Southeast Asian U23 Championship three times in a row (in 2022, 2023, and 2025). No other football nation in Southeast Asia has won more titles and medals than Vietnam during this period.

Prior to that, in 2016, the Vietnam U.19 team reached the semi-finals of the Asian U.19 Championship, thereby securing a ticket to the 2017 U.20 World Cup. After that, thanks to creating a generation of outstanding players, the Vietnamese national team won the AFF Cup twice between 2018 and early 2026 (winning the 2018 AFF Cup and the 2024 AFF Cup). Our number of AFF Cup titles is equal to that of Thailand (2020 and 2022) within this period.

The major difference lies in the training process.

The abundance of high-quality players has been the driving force behind Vietnam's continuous success in football, propelling us to the top spot in Southeast Asia. Unlike many football nations once considered on par in the region, Vietnamese football has a significantly better youth development program. Numerous domestic youth academies have flourished, such as HAGL, The Cong Viettel , PVF, Hanoi FC, training centers in Da Nang, SLNA, Thanh Hoa, and more recently, the Nutifood Academy, which has gained considerable recognition.

The Vietnamese domestic football league has introduced many outstanding young players.

Photo: Minh Tú

Vietnam's youth football system is also much more well-structured than that of neighboring countries. Vietnamese football has national-level youth leagues from U.11, U.13, U.15, U.17, U.19 to U.21. Furthermore, young players are given maximum opportunities to play for professional clubs. 100% of the U.23 Vietnam team that won the gold medal at the 2025 SEA Games and the bronze medal at the 2026 U.23 Asian Championship are currently playing for V-League clubs.

The proportion of Vietnamese U23 players competing in the national championship is overwhelmingly higher than that of Malaysia (10/23), Thailand (14/23), and the Philippines (7/23). These teams reached the semi-finals of the SEA Games 33. This reflects the fact that Vietnam's youth development and internal talent building efforts are significantly better than those of other football nations in the region.

In particular, the Indonesian, Malaysian, and Philippine teams have become overly reliant on foreign-born players in recent years. As a result, whenever these naturalized players are of poor quality or encounter problems for any reason, the Indonesian, Malaysian, and Philippine teams immediately weaken.

Malaysian football has gone astray to such an extent that sports expert Dr. Zulakbal Abdul Karim exclaimed: "Malaysia used to have a domestic U.23 league, but it has now been abolished. Young players in this age group have lost their playing opportunities, while they are finding it increasingly difficult to compete in the professional football environment in the country. This is why the foundation for the development of Malaysian football has been affected."

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cau-thu-tre-viet-nam-phat-trien-tot-nhat-dong-nam-a-nho-dieu-rat-dac-biet-nay-185260214155937309.htm