U23 Vietnam avoids 'death group' in Asian finals

The draw results for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship Finals put the Vietnam U23 team in the group with a chance to advance.

Draw results for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship Finals - Photo: AFC

On the afternoon of October 2, the draw ceremony for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship Finals took place at the headquarters of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in Malaysia.

This is the 6th consecutive time that the Vietnam U23 team has participated in the AFC U23 Championship Finals, after winning all 3 matches in the qualifying round of Group C at Viet Tri Stadium last September. The team beat Bangladesh, Singapore and Yemen to take the top spot in the group.

The 2026 AFC U23 Championship finals will take place from January 7 to 25 in Saudi Arabia. The 16 teams participating in the finals are divided into four groups. The top two teams in each group will advance to the quarter-finals.

The draw results put the U23 Vietnam team in Group A with U23 Jordan, U23 Kyrgyzstan and host U23 Saudi Arabia. In which, U23 Kyrgyzstan is the team participating in the final round for the first time.

This is an easy group, helping coach Kim Sang Sik and his team to get a ticket to continue. Meanwhile, the remaining 3 groups are quite difficult. The remaining representative of Southeast Asia, U23 Thailand, falls into the "death" group D with U23 Iraq, U23 Australia and U23 China.

Group B has defending champions U23 Japan, U23 Qatar, U23 UAE and U23 Syria. Group C has defending runners-up U23 Uzbekistan, U23 South Korea, U23 Iran and U23 Lebanon.

The Vietnam U23 team will gather on October 4 in Hanoi . Due to being busy leading the Vietnam team to play two matches against Nepal in the final qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup, coach Kim Sang Sik has handed over the head coach position of the Vietnam U23 team to assistant Dinh Hong Vinh.

After training in Hanoi, the Vietnam U23 team will go to the UAE for training from October 7. The team is expected to have two friendly matches with U23 Qatar on October 9 and 13 to complete the squad and practice tactics for the 33rd SEA Games and the 2026 AFC U23 Championship.

NGUYEN KHOI

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/u23-viet-nam-ne-duoc-bang-tu-than-o-vong-chung-ket-chau-a-20251002150512031.htm