U23 Vietnam meets Asian champions again at friendly tournament in China

In preparation for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship, the Chinese Football Association is organizing the U23 International Four-team Tournament taking place this coming November. The tournament will feature the U23 Vietnam, U23 Korea, U23 Uzbekistan and the host U23 China teams.

Participating in this tournament in November is also a valuable opportunity for U23 Vietnam to train their troops in preparation for the 33rd SEA Games. At that time, Coach Kim Sang-sik may not be able to lead U23 Vietnam because he and the Vietnamese team will travel to Laos to compete in the 5th round of the final qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup. Assistant Dinh Hong Vinh is still a strong candidate to be assigned to lead the U23 Vietnam team to participate in this friendly tournament.

In recent years, the Chinese Football Association has often organized friendly tournaments and the Vietnam U23 team has been regularly invited to participate and compete with quality opponents. Last August at the headquarters of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and CFA officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding on football development cooperation for the period 2025-2028. VFF President Tran Quoc Tuan and CFA President Song Kai represented the two Federations to sign the agreement, marking an important step forward in promoting comprehensive cooperation between the two football foundations.

Of the three opponents that U23 Vietnam will face, the most formidable is U23 Uzbekistan, a team with very good results in recent U23 Asian Cup finals, including a victory over U23 Vietnam in the Asian final in Changzhou (China) in 2018. U23 Uzbekistan is also the current U23 Asian champion.

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/u23-viet-nam-gap-lai-cac-nha-vo-dich-chau-a-tai-giai-giao-huu-o-trung-quoc-20251017142700952.htm