Vietnam’s two teams officially lose their chance to win the AFF championship

Both the Vietnam U19 and U16 futsal teams failed to qualify for the final of the Southeast Asian futsal tournament.

Vietnam’s youth futsal has just experienced disappointing days as both the U16 and U19 teams could not reach the finals of the 2025 Southeast Asian championships.

At the Nonthaburi Gymnasium (Thailand) on the afternoon of December 27, the team Vietnam U19 futsal team was eliminated in the semifinals after a heavy 3-7 defeat to Indonesia U19,a rapidly improving opponent. Despite fighting hard until the final minutes, the gap in skill level and effectiveness in play caused the red-shirted players to miss the chance to compete for the title.

Following a similar pattern, the Vietnam U16 futsal team only managed to finish third in the group stage after unfavorable results. Although they completed their mission with a 4-1 win over Brunei in the last match,the draw of 3-3 between Thailand and Indonesia in the following game directly pushed Vietnam down to third place with 7 points, trailing the top two teams by 1 and 3 points respectively.

With this outcome, both Vietnamese youth teams must accept playing in the third-place playoff. The Vietnam U16 futsal team will face Myanmar on December 29, while the final will be a showdown between the region’s two futsal powerhouses, Thailand and Indonesia.

This is the first time the Southeast Asian Football Federation has organized futsal tournaments for the U16 and U19 age groups, marking an important development for youth futsal in the region. This event opens significant opportunities for young players, as Southeast Asia currently lacks an official youth futsal competition. Previously, the only youth-level tournament was the AFC U20 Futsal Championship organized by the Asian Football Confederation, which has been suspended since 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has yet to resume.

Nevertheless, Vietnam’s youth futsal remains active and stable. Each year, the Vietnam U19/20 futsal teams are regularly called up for training and international friendly matches, including two high-quality games against Russia’s U19 team in 2024. Additionally, the national U20 futsal championship organized by the Vietnam Football Federation has become an important platform, helping to discover and develop many promising young talents for the country’s futsal scene.