AFC announces great news for Vietnam U17 in Asian qualifiers

Vietnam's U17 women's team is in the first seed group for the 2027 AFC U17 Women's Asian Cup qualifiers, and additionally gets to compete on home soil as Vietnam is the host nation for one group.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has announced the seeding groups and organization plan for the 2027 AFC U17 Women's Asian Cup qualifiers. Accordingly, Vietnam's U17 women's team is in the top seed group alongside strong teams including South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, India, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, and Myanmar. This is seen as a key advantage that helps the Vietnamese representatives avoid many strong opponents early in the qualifiers.

In addition to being placed in the highest seed group, Vietnam has also been selected by the AFC as one of the countries to host a qualifying group. This further recognizes the organizational capacity of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) for international tournaments, and also gives the Vietnam U17 women's team an extra advantage by playing on home ground in their journey to compete for a spot in the Finals.

According to the plan, the draw for the group stage of the 2027 AFC U17 Women's Asian Cup qualifiers will take place on July 16, 2026. "The four teams that have already qualified for the FIFA U17 Women's World Cup Morocco 2026, including the host nation of the Finals, China, are automatically entered into the 2027 AFC U17 Women's Asian Cup Finals and will not participate in the qualifiers." Therefore, the remaining 30 teams will compete for a place in the Finals.

As per the AFC format, "The competition format will see the teams divided into 8 groups—7 groups of 4 teams and 1 group of 3 teams—playing a single round-robin in centralized venues hosted by selected countries. The top 8 teams from each group will advance to the 2027 AFC U17 Women's Asian Cup Finals." The qualifying matches will be held from October 5 to 11, 2026, promising fierce competition among the continent's top youth teams.

Before the draw, the AFC also updated the list of participating teams, confirming that Nepal's U17 women's team will not take part. The reason is that the Nepal Football Federation is still under a FIFA suspension according to Circular No. 1967, forcing the AFC to adjust the number of participating teams before proceeding with the group draw.

Detailed information about the group for Vietnam's U17 women's team will be determined after the draw on the afternoon of July 16. With the status of a top seed and the home-field advantage, the coaching staff and players of the U17 women's Vietnam team are expected to make good use of the opportunity to advance through the qualifiers and secure a place in the 2027 AFC U17 Women's Asian Cup Finals.