Hot: U.23 Vietnam and host Saudi Arabia have a bright chance to enter the Asian quarterfinals

Vietnam U23 is in Group A of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship, along with Saudi Arabia U23, Jordan U23 and Kyrgyzstan U23. The draw will be held on October 2.

The draw is just right for U.23 Vietnam

The draw of luck has put U.23 Vietnam in Group A, the 2026 AFC U.23 Championship. As the second seed, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team are in the same group as U.23 Saudi Arabia, U.23 Kyrgyzstan and U.23 Jordan.

This is not an easy group for U.23 Vietnam, when the host U.23 Saudi Arabia is a former Asian champion, U.23 Jordan comes from a football country that has just won a ticket to the 2026 World Cup, and U.23 Kyrgyzstan is an unknown from Central Asia. However, the immediate goal of reaching the quarterfinals is always within reach of U.23 Vietnam, if coach Kim and his team have careful preparation.

U.23 Vietnam's draw

In the remaining groups, U.23 Japan will face U.23 Qatar, U.23 UAE and U.23 Syria in group BU23 Uzbekistan, U.23 Korea, U.23 Iran and U.23 Lebanon are in group C. Meanwhile, U.23 Iraq, U.23 Australia, U.23 Thailand and U.23 China are in group D.

According to the competition format, the 16 teams participating in the AFC U23 Championship finals will be divided into 4 groups. The top 2 teams in each group will advance to the quarter-finals. The AFC U23 Championship 2026 will take place from January 7 to January 25, 2026 in the two cities of Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Vietnam U23 has won tickets to the final round of the U23 Asia 6 times (continuously from 2016 to present). The team's best achievement was the runner-up position in 2018, and 2 quarter-finals in 2022 and 2024. In the 2026 U23 Asia qualifiers, Vietnam U23 won all 3 matches against Bangladesh U23 (2-0), Singapore U23 (1-0) and Yemen U23 (1-0).

U.23 Vietnam will gather again on October 4 in Hanoi . According to the plan, the team will practice at the Vietnam Youth Football Training Center until October 7, then will go to the UAE for training.

Here, the team will have two friendly matches with the Qatar U.23 team, which are considered to be of very high quality in terms of expertise, on October 9 and October 13 respectively, thereby continuing to perfect the squad, practice tactics and accumulate experience for the immediate goal of the 33rd SEA Games and then the 2026 U.23 Asian finals.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nong-u23-viet-nam-cung-bang-u23-a-rap-xe-ut-sang-cua-vao-tu-ket-chau-a-185251002143923762.htm