Coach Calisto returns to Vietnam, bringing good news to VFF

On the afternoon of August 7, Mr. Henrique Calisto - President of the Portuguese National Coaches Association, former head coach of the Vietnam National Team, and Mr. José Pedro De Sousa Vieira - President of the Portugal - Vietnam Friendship Association, visited and worked with VFF President Tran Quoc Tuan.

Mr. Calisto expressed his joy at returning to the land of memories, and highly appreciated the strong development of Vietnamese football in recent years. The former captain of the Vietnamese team affirmed that, in his current role, he wishes to contribute to promoting professional cooperation between the two football backgrounds of Vietnam and Portugal.

VFF President Tran Quoc Tuan received Mr. Calisto. Photo: VFF

“Portugal currently has many excellent coaches working at the world's top clubs and teams. I hope to be a bridge to promote extensive cooperation between the two national football federations, towards signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in the future,” Mr. Calisto shared.

In addition, "Wizard" Calisto also proposed to strengthen cooperation in areas where Portuguese football has strengths such as futsal (currently ranked 2nd in the world), beach soccer, as well as implementing training programs for Vietnamese youth teams at modern training centers in Portugal - especially the new center in Braga city.

U17 Vietnam and Malaysia in the 2026 AFC U17 qualifiers

According to the draw results, U17 Vietnam fell into Group C with opponents Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong (China), Northern Mariana Islands and Macau (China). The 2026 AFC U17 Qualifiers (taking place from November 22 to November 30, 2025) have a total of 38 participating teams, divided into 7 groups (3 groups of 6 teams and 4 groups of 5 teams). The teams compete in a round robin to calculate points, the top 7 teams in each group qualify for the 2026 AFC U17 Finals. In addition, the AFC gave 9 teams a special pass to the Finals, including host Qatar, along with 8 teams that reached the quarter-finals of the 2025 AFC U17 Championship, namely Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Tajikistan, Japan, UAE and Indonesia.