Vietnam entered the third group in the 2023 Asian Cup draw

This morning, April 3, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) sent the rules of the draw to the member federations with teams participating in the tournament. AFC Accordingly, the results of the last Asian Cup, in 2019, and the third qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in Asia are not taken as the basis for seed grouping as previously reported. Vietnam will be in group two, if calculated according to this new way. However, the AFC decided to divide the four groups according to the old format - based on the FIFA ranking in the month closest to the draw.

The draw for the 2023 Asian Cup will take place on May 11 in Doha, Qatar. The positions of the teams are calculated according to the FIFA ranking table announced on April 6. Although that date has not yet come, the positions have been determined when the international friendly match series ends in March. The Vietnamese team did not compete, but added 1.06 points to increase one place to 95th FIFA, 16th equivalent in AFC. Kyrgyzstan lost 7.47 points and dropped from 94th to 96th.

The 2023 Asian Cup takes place from January 12 to February 10, 2024 in Qatar with 24 teams divided into four seed groups. Vietnam will be in the third group with Bahrain (85th), Syria (90th), Palestine (93), Kyrgyzstan (96th) and Lebanon (99th). In the group stage, Vietnam will meet the team in the second, first and fourth seed groups, respectively.

Group one includes hosts Qatar (61), Japan (20), Iran (24), South Korea (27), Australia (29) and Saudi Arabia (54). Group two includes Iraq (67), UAE (72), Oman (73), Uzbekistan (74), China (80) and Jordan (84). Group four includes India (102), Tajikistan (110), Thailand (114), Malaysia (140), Hong Kong (147) and Indonesia (150).

In the Asian Cup 2019, Vietnam is also in group three, sharing the same group with Iran, Iraq and Yemen. The team under coach Park Hang-seo passed the group stage as one of the four best third-place teams. Vietnam beat Jordan in the penalty shootout in the round of 16 before losing 0-1 to Japan in the quarterfinals.

The FIFA hierarchy also determines the seed group in the 2026 World Cup second qualifying round, consisting of 36 teams divided into nine groups. The draw takes place in July and the four seed groups are based on the FIFA rankings in June. VFF will calculate opponents in the June FIFA friendly match series to accumulate points and maintain their position in the top 18 in Asia. to be in group two.