Vietnamese Futsal and Lessons from Thailand

It is a great source of pride for Vietnamese football, specifically for Vietnamese futsal, first and foremost in the region and the continent, whenVietnam Futsal TeamThey were the first Asian team to achieve such outstanding results and remarkable progress.

Besides the joy and pride in the aforementioned achievements, objectively speaking, Vietnamese Futsal has only achieved initial results in the region, and compared to its neighbor Thailand, there is still a gap between the two Futsal systems in terms of grassroots participation, breadth, professionalism, and top-level performance.

First of all, according to the latest Futsal world rankings, Thailand is ranked 18th, 21 places higher than Vietnam. In Asia, Thailand is ranked only 3rd after Iran and Japan. The Thai Futsal team has finished second twice in continental tournaments and has participated in the Futsal World Cup five times.

Vietnamese futsal players celebrate a goal against Russia. Photo: AFC

According to statistics from all six previous encounters between Vietnam and Thailand in Futsal, the victory has always gone to their powerful neighbor. In the Southeast Asian regional tournament, Thailand has won the championship 15 out of 16 times, and in the SEA Games, Thailand has won 4 gold medals out of 4 times, with Vietnam losing twice and winning silver in the final.

Regarding the sport, according to 2016 data, Thailand has 10,000 futsal teams with 1,000 futsal courts across the country. The average attendance at futsal courts and standard arenas is 1,000 people per match, with major matches potentially reaching 4,000 people.

Clearly, the Thais have taken the lead, surpassing and creating a significant advantage when comparing parameters and direct head-to-head results. This reflects the reality that, although Vietnamese Futsal is behind, the results achieved are relatively positive and commendable. However, it is still necessary to recognize that, when competing on the continental and world levels, Thai Futsal seems to be "more formidable" than ours.

Captain Tran Van Vu bravely contests the ball against Russia. Photo: AFC

It's a fact that in both 11-a-side football and futsal, Thailand has achieved more success than Vietnam in recent times, even though 11-a-side football in Thailand is currently stagnating, allowing Vietnam to overtake them. However, this is only a short-term observation, and it's premature to say the Thais have fully accepted this. The strength and quality of Thai players remain among the best in the region; the issue is simply that their system isn't yet being implemented in the best way.

This illustrates that narrowing the gap with Thailand in sports in general, and 11-a-side football and futsal in particular, still requires a lot of work from us, both at the grassroots and elite levels.

Specifically for Futsal, it is necessary to strengthen, improve, and unite the movement widely to "raise the level" in all aspects, from the system of playing fields and stadiums, to the system of tournaments at all levels and sectors, especially among youth and students... Currently, artificial turf fields can be found everywhere, but in our country, we usually play 7-a-side. The number of participants is large, including those who used to train and compete in 11-a-side football but have now switched to amateur, sideline tournaments...

Amateur tournaments are also held extensively, but their goal is not to develop a real Futsal scene, but rather to provide entertainment and fun… What is essential is for these amateur tournaments to have quality, to identify and nurture talented players to develop further, and contribute to professional clubs, or even the national team…

Vietnam's futsal team had a memorable 2021 World Cup. Photo: QUANG THANG

Meanwhile, the annual National Futsal Championship has not really attracted media attention or spectators; its scale remains modest, the quality of the matches is not high, not to mention the occasional incidents typical of... local amateur tournaments!

The current challenge is that, building on the continuous success of the Vietnamese Futsal National Team, the Vietnam Football Federation needs to make multifaceted efforts to promote a widespread and high-quality Futsal movement, starting from local areas and sectors. Based on this, they should select and train players for the Vietnamese National Team, maximize the capabilities of domestic coaches such as Mr. Pham Minh Giang and Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, and continue to learn from foreign experiences such as Spain, Japan, and neighboring Thailand to elevate Vietnamese Futsal to a new level.