Vietnam team to face Thailand, China at 2024 Asian FUTSAL finals

On December 14, the draw ceremony for the 2024 Asian FUTSAL tournament was held at the headquarters of the Asian Football Confederation (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), with 16 participating teams divided into 4 seed groups.

Accordingly, the draw results show that the Vietnamese team is in Group A with host Thailand, Myanmar and China. This can be considered an "Open Southeast Asia" group with 3 representatives from the ASEAN region, namely Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar, in addition to China. In addition to Thailand, the two remaining opponents, China and Myanmar, are considered lower than the Vietnamese team to expand their chances of competing for a place in the 2024 Asian FUTSAL finals.

The 2024 AFC FUTSAL Championship Finals will take place in Thailand from April 17 to April 28, 2024. The teams will compete in a round-robin format to determine the rankings in each group. The first and second teams in the four groups (8 teams) will qualify for the Quarterfinals. Notably, the top four teams with the best results in the 2024 AFC FUTSAL Championship Finals (ie the four semi-finalists) will qualify for the 2024 FUTSAL World Cup Finals.

As Uzbekistan is the host of the 2024 FIFA FUTSAL World Cup, if the country's team makes it into the Top 4 teams with the best results in the 2024 Asian FUTSAL Finals, the 4 losing teams in the Quarterfinals will compete in the play-off round to determine the 5th Asian ticket to the world FUTSAL arena.

Previously, the Vietnamese team won the right to participate in the 2024 AFC FUTSAL Finals as the top team in Group D, after 3 wins against Korea, Mongolia and Nepal in the qualifying round. The goal of coach Diego Giustozzi and his team at the 2024 AFC FUTSAL Finals is to compete for a ticket to the FUTSAL World Cup Finals for the third consecutive time in history.

In order to help the Vietnamese team prepare best for this tournament, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has carefully developed a plan for training and friendly matches for coach Giustozzi Diego Raul and his team.

VFF Vice President Tran Anh Tu said that the team will gather again in Ho Chi Minh City in mid-March 2024 and will be "tested" at the international FUTSAL tournament, scheduled to take place from March 28 to March 31, 2024 with the participation of 3 quality guest teams.

Based on the head coach's proposal and professional calculations, VFF has sent invitations to the New Zealand and Morocco teams to participate in the above international tournament. Based on today's draw results, VFF will invite another Asian FUTSAL team to serve the team in competition before going to Thailand for training, completing the final preparation for the 2024 Asian FUTSAL final round.

VFF Vice President Tran Anh Tu added that during the training session in Thailand, the Vietnamese team is expected to have another friendly match as a "rehearsal" before entering the race in Group A.

“VFF believes that with such proactive preparation, the Vietnamese team will complete the set goal, which is to strive to compete for a ticket to the FUTSAL World Cup for the third time in history,” VFF Vice President Tran Anh Tu emphasized./.