Vietnam futsal team calls up two new players to compete with China

Tuyển futsal Việt Nam gọi hai nhân tố mới đấu Trung Quốc - Ảnh 1. — Vietnam futsal team in friendly match with Saudi Arabia - Photo: NK

On the afternoon of August 15, coach Diego Giustozzi announced the list of the Vietnamese futsal team preparing for the 2026 Asian Futsal Championship qualifiers.

Among the 20 players called up, there are two new faces: goalkeeper Chau Thach Khanh Cuong (Thai Son Nam TP.HCM) and Nguyen Quoc Giau (Tre TP.HCM).

Both were given the opportunity to try their hand at the Vietnam futsal team as veteran goalkeeper Ho Van Y is recovering from his recent anterior cruciate ligament surgery. It is expected that Ho Van Y will need at least 6 months to be able to train again.

However, the Vietnamese futsal team still gathers seasoned veterans such as goalkeeper Pham Van Tu, Fixo Pham Duc Hoa, Nguyen Manh Dung, Ala Chau Doan Phat, Tu Minh Quang, Pivo Nguyen Minh Tri and Nguyen Thinh Phat.

Notably, Nguyen Thinh Phat was the "Top scorer" of the 2025 HDBank National Futsal Championship, Chau Doan Phat was the "Best Player". Meanwhile, Pham Van Tu was the "Best Goalkeeper" in both the 2025 HDBank National Futsal Championship and the 2025 HDBank National Futsal Cup.

tuyển futsal Việt Nam - Ảnh 2. — Coach Diego Giustozzi of the Vietnam futsal team - Photo: VFF

Besides, many young faces continue to be trusted, including Fixo Tran Quang Nguyen, Ala Trinh Cong Dai, Vu Ngoc Anh and Pivo Nguyen Da Hai - "Best Player" of the 2025 HDBank National Futsal Cup.

According to the plan, the Vietnamese futsal team will gather from August 18 at Thai Son Nam Futsal Stadium before going to Kuwait for training from September 9 to 14. Here, coach Diego Giustozzi and his team will have two friendly matches with the Kuwait futsal team on September 11 and 13.

After the training trip, the Vietnamese futsal team will move to China to enter the qualifying round of the 2026 Asian Futsal Championship.

According to the draw results, the Vietnamese futsal team is in group E and will meet Hong Kong (September 20), China (September 22) and Lebanon (September 24).

The 2026 Asian futsal qualifiers have 31 participating teams, divided into 8 groups including 7 groups of 4 teams and 1 group of 3 teams.

The teams will play a round-robin tournament at the venue of the host country. The eight group winners and seven best runners-up will qualify for the 2026 AFC Futsal Championship finals in Indonesia in January 2026.

As host, Indonesia was given a special ticket to the final round.