The challenge of women's football in Southeast Asia

The Vietnamese women's team is training in Cam Pha (Quang Ninh) for 10 days (from July 20 to July 29). In the final stage, the whole team will move to Hai Phong from July 30 to settle down, get familiar with the competition field and prepare to enter the 2025 Southeast Asian women's tournament, a tournament in which the Vietnamese team will play as the host team. In Group A, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team will meet opponents from Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand at Lach Tray Stadium on August 6, August 9 and August 12.

According to Mr. Mai Duc Chung, the upcoming Southeast Asian women's tournament will be more difficult because many Southeast Asian teams have naturalized, of which Indonesia has almost completely naturalized its team. Regarding the young players called up for this training session, Mr. Mai Duc Chung said that the coaching staff has been selective.

“After the national women's championship, we will continue to call more young faces for further training. Many young faces are progressing very quickly. Continuous concentration time with other training programs at the club, training with experienced players is probably part of the reason why the players have made remarkable progress.

The coaching staff also always reminds young players to always be confident and determined. The coaching staff is ready to let young players compete if they are in good form,” coach Mai Duc Chung emphasized.

Young midfielder Hai Linh shared: “Right from the first training session, the whole team is in a very happy spirit during training. Playing at home with the support of fans, the goal of winning the Southeast Asian women's championship this year will be more difficult because all teams have many naturalized players. Young players like me are still far behind the older players so they have not integrated quickly, but with mutual support in the team, everyone is integrating well. Coach Mai Duc Chung said that he will let the players practice a lot of physical training to compete with naturalized players as well as have their own tactics to compete with teams with superior physiques."

2.jpg -0 — The Vietnamese women's football team is preparing carefully for the Southeast Asian playground. Photo: VFF.

Young player Bao Tram expressed: “Personally, I also feel pressure because the older players have superior technical abilities because I am still a young player. However, I will continue to try to practice and complete the tasks of the coaching staff, improve my weaknesses and promote my strengths to integrate with the team as quickly as possible. I will try my best to get a place to participate in the Southeast Asian tournament with my seniors.”

Striker Huynh Nhu also commented: “The upcoming Southeast Asian Women's Championship will be a difficult playground. The opponents are now getting stronger and have also improved a lot with many naturalized players. At this stage, the Vietnamese women's team is also getting younger, but Nhu believes the whole team will try. Playing at home with the support of fans will be the motivation for the Vietnamese women's team to be determined to win.”

Although the Vietnamese women's football team is still the number one team in Southeast Asia, its regional rivals are also making progress. The fact that teams like the Philippines have a source of naturalized players is helping them increase their strength significantly.

The Vietnamese women's team needs to aim for the championship to create momentum for the next goal in the Asian playground. The final round of the 2026 Asian Women's Football Championship will take place in Australia from March 1 to 21 with the participation of 12 teams. The 6 teams with the best results in the tournament will qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil (the next 2 teams with the best results will play an inter-regional play-off).

The ultimate goal of the Vietnamese women’s team is to aim for the next World Cup ticket. In the immediate future, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team need to overcome challenges in the Southeast Asian playground.

Quang Nam Club announces information about team merger
On July 22, the fanpage of Quang Nam club made an announcement regarding the merger of the team. Accordingly, this team is working with the leaders and proposing two options, specifically:
Option 1, Quang Nam club proposes that the leaders of the City People's Committee and the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism pay attention to directing the search and invitation of businesses with local factors, establishing a club of football sponsors with full capacity, enthusiasm and commitment to the development of top-level football and sustainable maintenance to continue to accompany Quang Nam football club and Quang Nam Youth Football Training Center.
Thereby, maintaining in Tam Ky area and neighboring communes and wards in the South of Da Nang city a professional, top-notch football playground to contribute to improving the spiritual life of the people, while promoting the development of the tourism and sports economy.
Option 2, in the absence of a new sponsor, with the goal of effectively concentrating resources from the state budget to support youth football and focusing on developing and restructuring the professional football club of Da Nang city into a team rich in tradition... proposes to transfer all staff, workers, athletes, and young players of Quang Nam Football Development Joint Stock Company, Quang Nam Football Club and Quang Nam Youth Football Training Center to SHB Da Nang Sports Joint Stock Company for receipt and management.
Under the post, many fans expressed regret if Quang Nam club will no longer participate in Vietnam's professional football tournaments in the near future.
Previously, the press reported that Quang Nam club will most likely not participate in V.League 2025-2026. Instead, this team will be merged with Da Nang club.
HH

Source: https://cand.com.vn/the-thao/thu-thach-cua-bong-da-nu-o-giai-dong-nam-a-i775670/