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On the afternoon of June 26, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held a draw ceremony for the qualifying round of the 2026 Asian Futsal Championship in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
The draw of luck put the Vietnamese futsal team in group E, along with opponents Lebanon, China and Hong Kong (China).
According to the competition format, the 2026 Asian Futsal Championship qualifiers have 31 teams divided into 8 groups, competing in a round-robin format in the host countries. The 8 group winners and 7 best second-placed teams will qualify for the 2026 Asian Futsal Championship held in Indonesia in January next year.
As hosts, Indonesia automatically got a spot without having to play in the qualifying round.
Notably, for the first time, the seeding grouping for the Asian futsal qualifiers was applied by the AFC based on the latest FIFA futsal rankings.
Accordingly, the Vietnamese futsal team ranked 5th in Asia and 31st in the world , so it was placed in the number 1 seed group. The teams in the same group with Vietnam include Iran, Thailand, Japan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq.
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In Group E, Lebanon and China are considered two direct competitors to coach Diago Giustozzi and his team.
In the past, the Vietnamese futsal team faced Lebanon in the play-off round for a ticket to the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup. After two draws of 0-0 and 1-1, the Vietnamese team then won the right to continue thanks to the away goals rule.
Meanwhile, at the 2024 Asian Futsal Championship, the Vietnamese futsal team defeated China 1-0 in the group stage.
The 2026 Asian Futsal Championship qualifiers are the most important tournament of the year for the Vietnamese futsal team, alongside the 2025 SEA Games held in December in Thailand.
According to plan, coach Giustozzi and his team will gather after the National Futsal Cup ends in August to prepare for the qualifying round, taking place from September 20 to 24.
Since 2014, the Vietnamese futsal team has passed the group stage of the Asian futsal tournaments 5 times in a row, notably reaching the semi-finals in 2016.
Source: https://tienphong.vn/futsal-viet-nam-cung-bang-trung-quoc-o-vong-loai-chau-a-2026-post1754831.tpo
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