Vietnam women's team in the same group as Thailand and Indonesia at the 2025 AFF Women's Cup

On the morning of June 9, in Hanoi, the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) held a draw ceremony for the ASEAN Women's Football Tournament - MSIG Serenity Cup 2025. This is an important event of the region's leading women's football tournament, chaired by AFF President - Major General Khiev Sameth - with the participation of AFF officials. On the host country Vietnam, there was the presence of Dr. Tran Quoc Tuan - President of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF).

The draw ceremony for the 2025 AFF Women's Football Cup in Hanoi . Photo: Ha Ngan

Speaking at the ceremony, AFF President Khiev Sameth thanked the host country Vietnam and partners for supporting AFF in organizing the tournament.

VFF President Tran Quoc Tuan emphasized that the AFF's trust in Vietnam to host the tournament is a great honor, and at the same time demonstrates VFF's strong commitment to accompanying the development of regional football, especially women's football. He affirmed that VFF will closely coordinate with relevant parties to successfully organize the tournament, while promoting the image of the country and people of Vietnam as friendly, open, and hospitable to international friends.

The ASEAN Women's Football Tournament - MSIG Serenity Cup 2025 will take place in Vietnam from August 6 to 19, with the participation of 8 national teams from Southeast Asia and Oceania. The two venues are Viet Tri Stadium (Phu Tho) and Lach Tray Stadium ( Hai Phong ). This year's edition is expected to be the most competitive ever, with the participation of teams that have qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup such as: Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Australia.

Vietnam in an "easy" group at the 2025 AFF Women's Cup. Photo: AFF

As the host country, the Vietnamese women's team is placed in Group A, along with Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia. Group B includes the Philippines, Myanmar, Australia and Timor Leste.

With this result, the Vietnamese team is considered to be in an “easy” group. However, the real challenge will come from the semi-finals, when they will likely face the first or second team in Group B – which will include strong opponents such as Australia or the Philippines. Therefore, the goal of coach Mai Duc Chung and his team will be to win the top spot in Group A to avoid facing strong opponents early.

The tournament, named after sponsor MSIG, was formerly known as the AFF Women's Championship, starting in 2004. After 12 editions, the tournament has become a playground for the best talents of women's football in the region, with high professional quality and many exciting matches.

The Philippines are the latest team to win the title, having beaten Thailand 3-0 at home in 2022. Despite losing two consecutive finals – most recently a 1-0 defeat to Vietnam after extra time in 2019 – Thailand are the most successful team in the tournament, with four titles (2011, 2015, 2016, 2018). Vietnam have won the title three times (2006, 2012, 2019), Myanmar have won twice, while Australia and the visiting U23 team Japan have each won once.

MSIG Serenity Cup™ is one of the four most important national team and club tournaments in the AFF system, alongside the ASEAN Hyundai Cup™, ASEAN Club Championship – Shopee Cup™ and ASEAN U-23 Mandiri Cup™ 2025, contributing to the formation of the ASEAN United FC brand ecosystem.

This year marks the first time the tournament has adopted a qualifying format. The top three teams from the 2024 AFF Women's Cup will advance to the group stage, along with five seeded teams: Australia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The qualifiers will take place in Laos from November 23 to December 5, 2024. Indonesia qualified after defeating Cambodia 3-1 in the final. Despite finishing fourth, Timor Leste was also awarded a place in the group stage as Singapore (ranked third) declined to participate in the main tournament.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/doi-tuyen-nu-viet-nam-chung-bang-thai-lan-indonesia-tai-aff-cup-nu-2025-704986.html