Determining the time of the U23 Asian Cup draw, which opponents will U23 Vietnam meet?

(Dan Tri) - The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has set the date for the draw for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship.

According to the announcement from AFC, the draw for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship will take place on October 2 in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). This is the moment that fans and experts have been waiting for. The draw can decide the fate of the teams in the tournament.

U23 Vietnam is in the second seed group at the draw ceremony for the U23 Asian Cup (Photo: Minh Quan).

The 16 teams participating in the AFC U23 Championship finals include 11 group winners: Jordan, Japan, Vietnam, Australia, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Iraq, Qatar, Iran, South Korea and Syria; and 4 best second-placed teams: China, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, UAE. Along with that, the host team Saudi Arabia automatically has a ticket to participate.

According to the seeding results, U23 Vietnam is in group 2 with U23 Korea, U23 Australia and U23 Qatar. This helps us avoid many strong opponents in the group stage.

The specific seed group classification results are as follows:

Group 1: U23 Saudi Arabia (host), U23 Uzbekistan, U23 Japan and U23 Iraq.

Group 2: U23 Korea, U23 Vietnam, U23 Australia and U23 Qatar

Group 3: U23 Thailand, U23 Jordan, U23 UAE and U23 Iran

Group 4: U23 China, U23 Syria, U23 Kyrgyzstan and U23 Lebanon.

U23 Vietnam had a quite successful year in 2025 (Photo: Minh Quan).

The final round of the tournament will take place from January 7-25, 2026 in Saudi Arabia. The achievements of U23 Vietnam in recent years have been quite stable. The team has reached the quarter-finals of the U23 Asian Cup in the last two seasons in 2022 and 2024.

Before the tournament, U23 Vietnam will have a quality test at the 33rd SEA Games taking place in December in Thailand. Over the past year, U23 Vietnam has competed quite successfully. We have excellently won the third consecutive championship in the Southeast Asian U23 tournament and passed the qualifying round of the Asian U23 tournament. Notably, coach Kim Sang Sik and his team have maintained a perfect record in both of these tournaments.

This creates a stepping stone for U23 Vietnam to be able to reap success in two more important tournaments: SEA Games 33 and the final round of the U23 Asian Cup.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/xac-dinh-thoi-diem-boc-tham-giai-u23-chau-a-u23-viet-nam-gap-doi-thu-nao-20250912101807449.htm