U23 Vietnam is ready to conquer new heights

Preparing for the 2026 U23 Asian qualifiers, the Vietnam U23 team will gather on August 29 with the national team at the Vietnam Youth Football Training Center (Hanoi).

After winning the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship, the Vietnam U23 team will embark on a journey to win a ticket to the 2026 Asian U23 finals.

The draw results created favorable conditions for the U23 Vietnam team in the qualifying round of the tournament. Coach Kim Sang-sik and his team were in Group A with Bangladesh, Singapore and Yemen, and played at home in Viet Tri ( Phu Tho ).

U23 Vietnam is ready to gather and prepare for the 2026 U23 Asian qualifiers. Photo: VFF

On the FIFA rankings, all three opponents are below U23 Vietnam. Therefore, the task of winning a ticket to Saudi Arabia in 2026 is not too difficult for coach Kim Sang-sik's team. At this time, Vietnamese football has produced many excellent talents with rich experience playing in the V-League. The achievement of winning the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship shows that the coaching staff has carefully selected, invested deeply and built an even core force.

In addition, many overseas Vietnamese players from advanced football backgrounds around the world have also gathered in the V-League to compete, expressing their desire to play for the national teams. This abundant resource gives Coach Kim more options in recruiting players, preparing for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers.

In round 1 of V-League 2025-2026, most of the U23 Vietnam players who have just won the Southeast Asian championship were given the opportunity to play. The pillars of the national U23 team such as: Van Khang, Van Truong, Viktor Le, Van Thuan, Ngoc My, Ly Duc, Quoc Viet, Hieu Minh, Xuan Bac, Anh Quan, Thanh Nhan or goalkeeper Trung Kien... continued to maintain stable performance, contributing a lot to the playing style of the home team. This is a positive signal, opening up many options for coach Kim Sang-sik in the upcoming journey.

Before the gathering day, the U23 Vietnam coaching staff will have more time to review the squad, evaluate the performance and professional ability of the players, through 2 matches of the V-League 2025-2026. However, during the urgent preparation time, experts believe that the U23 Vietnam squad will not have many changes compared to the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship.

The 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers have 44 participating teams, divided into 11 groups. Each group will compete in a round robin to calculate rankings, selecting the 11 group winners and 4 second-place teams with the best qualifying results, to qualify for the final round.

According to the competition plan, U23 Vietnam will host U23 Bangladesh (September 3), U23 Singapore (September 6) and U23 Yemen (September 9).

Also during the gathering to prepare for FIFA Days in September 2025, the Vietnamese team will have two friendly matches with strong domestic teams, expected to be Nam Dinh Club and Hanoi Police Club on September 4 and 7. On this occasion, the Vietnamese team will practice until September 10.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/u23-viet-nam-san-sang-chinh-phuc-dinh-cao-moi-196250820202404764.htm