But at the national team level, the Japanese women's team is the reigning Asian champion in 2026.
Stay alert in your beliefs.
This story also gives much to think about for Vietnamese football, which has continuously achieved memorable milestones: qualifying for the 2017 U20 World Cup, runner-up in the 2018 U23 Asian Championship, semi-finalist in the 2018 ASIAD, and qualifying for the 2026 U17 World Cup.
These achievements all demonstrate the significant progress made by Vietnamese youth football. However, if we don't look at the true nature of these achievements, they can sometimes create the illusion that Vietnamese football has truly reached continental level.
The Vietnam U17 team (in white jerseys) has just made history by officially securing a ticket to the FIFA U17 World Cup 2026.
Many people often assume that youth success will automatically propel the national team forward. However, success at the youth level and the true strength of the national team are two different stories – and North Korean women's football is a prime example of this.
At the youth level, North Korean women's football has consistently been among the strongest in the world for many years: winning the U17 and U20 championships, possessing generations of players with exceptional physical fitness, speed, and organization. However, at the senior national team level, Japan – the team that just won the 2026 Asian Championship – is the footballing nation that has consistently maintained its top-tier status.
In youth leagues, a team can succeed thanks to: good physical fitness, high organization, sound tactics, strong fighting spirit, and a promising generation. But top-level football demands more than that.
A strong national team needs: a high-quality national league, players consistently playing at the highest level, a training system that spans multiple generations, a development environment for players aged 22-28, sports science , skilled coaches, the ability to continuously regenerate talent… and many players who successfully play abroad.
This is what Japanese football has. They don't depend on one generation of players. They create an entire football ecosystem. North Korea, like many other footballing nations, often produces very strong young generations, but struggles to maintain that dominance at the highest level.
Solutions after age 20
On the positive side, Vietnamese youth football has clearly progressed. The current U17 (both men's and women's), U20, and U23 teams are more confident, better organized, no longer intimidated by Asian opponents, and have learned how to compete on the big stage. This is a necessary foundation for the future.
The Vietnam U17 women's team has just concluded its journey at the 2026 AFC U17 Women's Championship with a place in the quarter-finals.
But it would be dangerous to view the success of young players as proof that Vietnamese football has become an Asian powerhouse. Because the biggest gap doesn't lie at the age of 17 or 20. The real gap lies in the later stages.
Many Vietnamese players perform exceptionally well in their youth but stagnate when they reach the highest level of professional football. Numerous talented players, after a few years, experience a decline in motivation, a lack of opportunities for development, limited international exposure, or fail to raise their playing level to a continental standard. This is why the Vietnamese national team has not been able to make progress commensurate with the expectations of its youth teams.
After every young success, the most common reaction is excessively high expectations. But football cannot develop fundamentally through short-term emotions.
A strong football system cannot be built on a few successful tournaments, but on the ability to maintain quality over many consecutive years.
The most important thing for Vietnamese football right now is not how long the celebrations last, or how high the expectations are, but how to ensure that today's U17 players continue to develop after 5 years, play in a better environment, truly improve their skills, and be able to compete at the national team level.
Without a strategy for developing players after the age of 20, early success can easily become premature peak.
Fundamental solutions are needed to ensure that today's U17 players continue to develop over the next five years.
Vietnamese football still possesses many favorable conditions for development: strong social interest, increasingly better young players, more systematic training facilities than before, and a stronger mindset for integration.
The key is patience with the long-term path, which Vietnamese football needs to: improve the quality of the V-League, create a truly competitive environment for young players, promote overseas opportunities, focus on coach training, invest in sports science, and build a comprehensive system from youth teams to the national team.
When the foundation is strong enough, early success can translate into real power at the highest level.
The ticket to the 2026 U17 World Cup is a welcome sign for Vietnamese football. But its true value will not lie in the praise today, but in how many players in that age group will continue to improve when they reach the age of 22, 25, or 28.
The story of North Korean women's football shows that being strong at the youth level doesn't necessarily guarantee strength at the highest level. This is also a necessary reminder for Vietnamese football: success at the youth level is the beginning of hope, not the ultimate goal of becoming a great football nation.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/dung-ngo-nhan-tu-cac-giai-tre-196260519092449183.htm
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