Cao Pendant Quang Vinh officially becomes Vietnamese citizen; Malaysia naturalizes 7 more players
Footballer Cao Pendant Quang Vinh officially becomes a Vietnamese citizen; Match schedule of U17 Vietnam at the 2025 AFC U17 Finals; Malaysia naturalizes 7 more players... are notable sports news in the past 24 hours.
Footballer Cao Pendant Quang Vinh officially becomes Vietnamese citizen
According to information fromVietnam Football Federation, player Cao Pendant Quang Vinh (currently on the payroll of Hanoi Police Club) has officially become a Vietnamese citizen.
The ceremony to grant Vietnamese citizenship to this player took place on March 28 at the Hanoi Department of Justice.
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On this occasion, Quang Vinh expressed his gratitude to the President, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), the Department of Justice and the Hanoi City Police for trusting and supporting him in completing the procedures for naturalization. “This is not only an honor, but also a promise and responsibility. I will use all my talent and enthusiasm to contribute to the national flag, so that every goal and every pass will show national pride,” Quang Vinh affirmed.
Major Nguyen Manh Cuong - Executive Director of Hanoi Police Club expressed his joy when Cao Pendant Quang Vinh officially joined the club as a Vietnamese player. Thereby contributing to increasing the strength of the team in the coming period, first of all, the away match at PSM Makassar Club (Indonesia) in the first leg of the Southeast Asian Club Championship - Shopee Cup 2024/2025, taking place on April 2.
Match schedule of U17 Vietnam at the 2025 AFC U17 Finals
According to the schedule announced by the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), the second leg friendly match between U17 Vietnam and U17 Oman will take place at 0:00 on March 29 (Vietnam time). This is the match for coach C. Roland to complete the squad before the 2025 AFC U17 finals.
At the 2025 AFC U17 Championship, Vietnam U17 is in Group B with Japan U17, Australia U17 and UAE U17. According to the schedule, Vietnam U17 will face Australia U17 at 10pm on April 4, Japan U17 at 10pm on April 7 and end the group stage with a match against UAE U17 at 10pm on April 10.
FIFA has decided to increase the number of teams participating in the 2025 U17 World Cup to 48, thereby giving Asia 8 places to participate. According to the tournament format, 8 teams that pass the group stage at the U17 Asian finals will win tickets to the World Cup. Therefore, to participate in the world playground, U17 Vietnam only needs to pass the group stage.
Speaking before the Asian tournament, coach C. Roland affirmed: "The whole team is determined and focused to achieve the highest goal for Vietnamese football. But we also need to keep some information confidential before entering the tournament."
Vietnam women's team falls into an easy group
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has conducted a draw, and the Vietnamese women's team has been placed in a relatively "easy" group.
The draw results put coach Mai Duc Chung and his team in Group E with the Guam women's team, the United Arab Emirates and the Maldives. Vietnam is also the host country of this group and is expected to play at Viet Tri Stadium, Phu Tho Province.
On the FIFA rankings, the Vietnamese women's team is ranked 37th in the world, far surpassing opponents such as Guam ranked 96th in the world, the United Arab Emirates ranked 112th in the world and the Maldives ranked 163rd in the world. The Vietnamese women's team is expected to have no difficulty qualifying for the 2026 Asian Cup.
In the upcoming qualifying round, 34 teams will be divided into 8 groups. The top 8 teams in each group will qualify for the final round along with the 4 teams that have already participated: China, Japan, South Korea and host Australia. The 6 teams with the best results will qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup finals. To prepare for the 2026 Asian Cup qualifiers, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team are expected to gather next May.
Malaysia naturalizes 7 more players to play for Vietnam national team
Malaysia has 7 more naturalized players to prepare for the match with the Vietnam National Team in June 2025.
"The seven Malaysian players abroad will add quality to the team," Tunku Ismail, former president of the Football Association of Malaysia, who is in charge of the national team reform project, told Berita Harian. Malaysian football is following Indonesia's lead in implementing a strategy to strengthen the national team with players of European heritage.
In the match against Nepal last week, the Malaysian team used 8 naturalized players. Some were born in Europe but have Malaysian roots. Some cases like Romel Morales, Endrick... are South American foreign players who have played for a long time in the Malaysian national championship, and have just been naturalized.
The Football Association of Malaysia is pushing for naturalization procedures for 7 new players before June. That is when the team nicknamed Harimau Malaya will gather again to play the second round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. Their opponent is the Vietnam National Team.
In the most recent match, with 7 naturalized players in the starting lineup and 1 player coming on in the second half, Malaysia defeated Nepal 2-0 at home. The team led by coach Peter Cklamovski is temporarily behind.Vietnam team(both have 3 points) due to lower sub-index./.
