OFFICIAL: Vietnam receives great news from AFC, dreams of World Cup participation

The Asian Football Confederation has granted Vietnam the right to host a group in the 2027 AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup qualifiers, giving the U-17 women's team a significant advantage.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has officially selected Vietnam as one of the host countries for a group stage of the 2027 AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers. This is further recognition by the AFC of the Vietnam Football Federation's (VFF) capability in organizing international tournaments, while also creating favorable conditions for the Vietnam U-17 women's team to compete on home soil.

According to the AFC's schedule, the draw for the match schedule of the 2027 AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers will take place on July 16, 2026. The qualifiers will be held in a centralized format from October 5 to 11, 2026. The AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup finals will also determine the berths for the U-17 Women's World Cup, where the four strongest representatives from the continent will qualify for the global tournament.

This year's qualifiers feature 31 teams. Among them, four teams have already qualified for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Morocco 2026, including the host nation of the finals, China, who are automatically entered into the 2027 AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup finals and will not participate in the qualifiers.

The 30 teams competing in the qualifiers will be divided into four seeding pots for the draw. The Vietnam U-17 women's team is in Pot 1 alongside South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, India, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, and Myanmar. According to the competition format, the teams will be split into eight groups—seven groups of four teams and one group of three teams—playing a single round-robin in a centralized format at the host countries. The top eight group winners will advance to the 2027 AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup finals.

Notably, as the Nepal Football Federation is currently suspended by FIFA per Circular No. 1967, the Nepal U-17 women's team will not participate in the qualifiers. The AFC has updated the list of participating teams and conducted the draw based on the 31 teams.

Information regarding the match schedule for the group hosted by Vietnam will be updated by the VFF after the draw, which takes place this afternoon (July 16).