Vietnam U23 team excellently won 9 points after 3 qualifying matches to win a place in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship finals with the top position in Group C. Also having the top position in the final group, Thailand U23's performance was worse than Vietnam's, with 2 wins and 1 draw after 3 matches played.
Thanh Nhan scored to help U23 Vietnam win all matches in the qualifying round.
With this result, Vietnam and Thailand are the two teams representing Southeast Asia to compete in Saudi Arabia for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship. Football powerhouses in Southeast Asia such as Indonesia and Malaysia will miss out on this tournament.
At the end of the qualifying round, Indonesia, Cambodia, and the Philippines were the second-placed teams in the group but did not have a good performance and were not in the top 4 best second-placed teams, so they had to stop at the qualifying round.
U23 Vietnam
...and the list of 16 teams participating in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship
Besides host Saudi Arabia, 15 teams qualified to compete in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship include 11 group winners: Jordan, Japan, Australia, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Iraq, Qatar, Iran, South Korea, Syria and 4 group runners-up: China, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The 2026 AFC U23 Championship is scheduled to be held from January 7 to 25, 2026.
The teams are divided into four groups, playing a round robin format to determine rankings. The top two teams in each group will advance to the quarter-finals. This tournament does not count towards Olympic qualification (men's football).
Source: https://nld.com.vn/doi-tuyen-u23-viet-nam-cung-thai-lan-tham-du-vck-u23-chau-a-2026-19625091010532018.htm
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