2026 AFC Futsal Championship Qualifiers Draw

On the afternoon of June 26, in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), the draw ceremony for the 2026 Asian Futsal Championship Qualifiers took place. As a result, the Vietnamese futsal team was in Group E with opponents Lebanon, China and Hong Kong (China).

The 2026 AFC Futsal Championship Qualifiers will feature 31 teams, divided into 8 groups, including 7 groups of 4 teams and 1 group of 3 teams. The teams will compete in a round-robin format based on the rankings in the countries hosting the groups. The top 8 teams in each group and the 7 best second-placed teams will qualify for the 2026 AFC Futsal Championship Finals, to be held in Indonesia in January 2026. As hosts, Indonesia will have a direct entry to the finals and will not have to participate in the qualifying round.

The seeding for the Asian futsal qualifiers is based on the latest FIFA futsal rankings. Accordingly, the Vietnamese futsal team is ranked 5th in Asia and 31st in the world , so it is placed in the number 1 seed group. The teams in the same group with Vietnam are Iran, Thailand, Japan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq.

From 2014 to now, the Vietnamese team has passed the group stage 5 times in a row at the Asian futsal tournaments, notably reaching the top 4 in 2016. This is an outstanding achievement of Vietnamese women's futsal.

Returning to the Vietnam team's group at the 2026 Asian Futsal Qualifiers, Lebanon and China are considered two direct competitors for coach Diago Giustozzi and his team. In their most recent confrontation, the Vietnam futsal team faced Lebanon in the play-off round for a ticket to the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup. After two draws of 0-0 and 1-1, the Vietnam team then won the right to continue thanks to the away goals rule.

Meanwhile, at the 2024 Asian futsal finals, the Vietnamese team defeated China 1-0 in the group stage.

The 2026 Asian Futsal Qualifiers will take place from September 20 to September 24. This is a key tournament for the Vietnamese futsal team in 2025, alongside the SEA Games which will take place in December in Thailand.

According to plan, to prepare for the continental futsal qualifying round, the Vietnamese team will gather after the 2025 National Futsal Cup ends next August.