Vietnam may meet China and Thailand at U23 Asia 2026

According to the seeding results at the draw for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship finals, Vietnam may face China and Thailand.

U23 Vietnam is in the second seed group of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship - Photo: NGOC LE

Sina (China) newspaper said that the seeding results at the draw for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship finals will be based on the teams’ performance in the last 3 tournaments. Accordingly, 4 seeding groups of the tournament have appeared.

Group 1 includes the U23 teams of Saudi Arabia (host), Uzbekistan, Japan, and Iraq.

South Korea, Vietnam, Australia, Qatar in group 2.

Group 3 includes Thailand, Jordan, UAE, Iran.

China, Syria, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon are in group 4.

With such seed groups, U23 Vietnam will avoid Korea, Qatar and Australia in the group stage of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship.

In return, coach Kim Sang Sik and his team can face Thailand (group 3) and China (group 4) in the group stage. In theory, this will be the easiest group for U23 Vietnam.

According to the plan, the draw for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship finals will take place on October 2 in Malaysia. The 2026 AFC U23 Championship finals will take place from January 7 to 25 in Saudi Arabia. This is the 6th consecutive time that Vietnam U23 has won a ticket to the tournament, and reached the quarterfinals the most recent time (2024).

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/viet-nam-co-the-gap-trung-quoc-thai-lan-o-u23-chau-a-2026-20250913113352752.htm