FIFA organizes tournament in Southeast Asia: Will Vietnam team break through?

(Dan Tri) - FIFA's organization of the FIFA ASEAN Cup brings many opportunities and challenges to the Vietnamese team.

At the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 26th, FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced the establishment of the FIFA ASEAN Cup. This tournament brings together 11 national teams from Southeast Asia and is unrelated to the AFF Cup.

The Vietnamese national team has a great opportunity to make a breakthrough in the FIFA rankings (Photo: Thanh Dong).

Currently, FIFA has not decided on the format of the tournament. However, it is almost certain that the FIFA ASEAN Cup will be held within the framework of FIFA's international match calendar. Therefore, this tournament is likely to receive high ranking points on the FIFA rankings.

This creates a great opportunity for the Vietnamese national team to break through in the FIFA rankings. Previously, the AFF Cup was not part of the FIFA competition system and therefore received very low scores. However, if the FIFA ASEAN Cup takes place during FIFA Days (national team training camps according to the FIFA schedule), it will receive very high scores.

If they take advantage of this opportunity, the Vietnamese national team can accumulate a significant number of points and improve their ranking on the FIFA rankings. This is crucial as it affects the seeding of the "Golden Dragons" before each major tournament. Remember, the Vietnamese national team is the reigning champion of the 2024 AFF Cup.

However, if the FIFA ASEAN Cup were played during FIFA Days, we would also face a major challenge. In that case, teams like Indonesia, Thailand, or Malaysia could field their strongest squads for the tournament.

Because the AFF Cup usually takes place at the end of the year and is not a FIFA Day event, it is very difficult for these teams to convince clubs (especially in the West) to release their players. Remember, in the recent AFF Cup 2024, Indonesia had to send their U22 team to participate in the tournament and were eliminated in the group stage. Meanwhile, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines faced a similar situation.

The Vietnamese national team did not face this difficulty because the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) facilitated the situation by suspending the V-League season, allowing the team to focus on training for a whole month and then travel to South Korea for a training camp.

The Vietnamese national team will have to face the strongest lineups of teams in the Southeast Asian region (Photo: VFF).

CNN Indonesia expressed excitement that Indonesia could field its strongest team. The newspaper wrote: “Because the AFF Cup is not part of the FIFA competition system, the Indonesian team cannot field naturalized players who play in Europe.”

If the FIFA ASEAN Cup is officially implemented, the Indonesian national team will have the opportunity to assemble its strongest squad, including many players currently playing in top European leagues such as Jay Idzes (Sassuolo), Calvin Verdonk (Lille), Kevin Diks (Borussia Monchengladbach), and Emil Audero (Cremonese).

The emergence of the new league is expected to create a new turning point for Indonesian football, helping the team demonstrate its strength against regional rivals.”

Nevertheless, the FIFA ASEAN Cup tournament brings high expectations for Vietnamese football. This will be a tournament where the "Golden Dragons" can assert their position by competing with the strongest squad in the region. It is completely different from the nature of the AFF Cup. As the Acting President of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mahadi, declared: "The establishment of this new tournament is a historic decision for Southeast Asian football."

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/fifa-to-chuc-giai-dau-o-dong-nam-a-tuyen-viet-nam-se-but-pha-20251027183631894.htm