Vietnam national team drops in FIFA rankings; Doan Van Hau and CAHN dominate the March award in V.League 2025/26.

Vietnam national team drops in FIFA rankings.

FIFA's changes mean that national teams no longer have to wait until the end of the month to find out their rankings. Instead, rankings can change immediately after each match takes place globally.

The Vietnamese national team is a prime example. On March 31st, coach Kim Sang-sik's team climbed 10 places to 98th in the world rankings with 1225.67 points after a 3-1 victory against Malaysia. This is a significant step forward compared to September 2025, when the team was ranked 114th.

The FIFA rankings are experiencing unprecedented and constant changes, as the world football governing body adopts a mechanism for updating points in real time.c.

However, Vietnam has now dropped to 99th place due to the impact of Luxembourg's result. In Southeast Asia, Vietnam is ranked second, after Thailand (93rd). The "War Elephants" climbed 3 places thanks to their 2-1 victory over Turkmenistan, securing a spot in the 2027 Asian Cup finals along with Vietnam.

In contrast, Malaysia plummeted 17 places in the rankings. This was due to the AFC's penalty, which resulted in two forfeited matches against Vietnam and Nepal. Notably, Vietnam made the biggest leap after March, climbing 9 places and gaining a total of 35.17 points. Meanwhile, Malaysia suffered the most dramatic drop, losing a staggering 59.67 points.

Doan Van Hau and CAHN dominate the March award in the V.League 2025/26 season.

Defender Doan Van Hau received the award for best goal after his spectacular strike from midfield, while Hanoi Police FC swept all the individual and team awards of the month.

March of the 2025/26 V.League season witnessed the absolute dominance of Hanoi Police FC in terms of titles. With their outstanding performance, the police team swept all the most important awards, both individual and team, affirming their position as a top contender for the championship.

The most brilliant highlight in CAHN's list of awards was the "Goal of the Month" award, which went to defender Doan Van Hau. This moment of genius occurred in the 66th minute of the rescheduled match of round 10 between CAHN and Thanh Hoa.

Besides Van Hau's individual brilliance, CAHN Club also affirmed the strength of its system by winning in all remaining voting categories. Coach Mano Polking's efforts to reform the playing style were deservedly rewarded with the Coach of the Month award.

In the attacking line, striker Alan Grafite, with his impressive goal-scoring performance, won the Player of the Month award. The seamless combination of key players helped CAHN be honored as the Team of the Month for March.

Ahead of their match against Vietnam, the Thai Football Association has banned players from using Facebook and TikTok.

The Football Association of Thailand (FAT) has banned female players from using social media during group stage matches at the 2026 AFC U20 Women's Championship.

According to the newspaperThairath,The Thai women's football team will be banned from using social media until after the 2026 AFC U20 Women's Championship finals. This decision was made by the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) based on a proposal from coach Nuengrutai Sratongvian. The aim is to keep the players fully focused.

In their next match, the Thai team will face the Vietnamese U20 women's team. This match will take place on April 4th. Previously, in the first round, the Thai U20 women's team secured a hard-fought victory against Bangladesh – a team not considered strong. The Thai team trailed 0-2, but they scored three goals within 10 minutes to turn the tide and earn three crucial points.

Italy in crisis - 900-page plan thrown in the trash.

What Roberto Baggio proposed more than a decade ago is now returning as a wake-up call for a footballing nation in decline.

Following their defeat to Bosnia and their third consecutive World Cup absence, Italian football is forced to re-evaluate itself. But if one looks back, they will find warning signs that have been present for a long time.

In 2011, Roberto Baggio submitted a 900-page plan for a complete overhaul of the system. It was ignored. And now, everything is unfolding exactly as he feared.

This is not a mere slogan proposal. The 900-page document, produced by around 50 people, delves into the intricacies of the Italian football system.

One of the highlights of the plan is the establishment of approximately 100 federation centers nationwide. Alongside this is a system for collecting data, monitoring young players at the local level, and training coaches with both professional expertise and pedagogical skills.

One noteworthy detail is the idea of ​​digitizing the entire system, from training sessions and match data to player development. This was in 2010, a time when this concept was still very new in football.

Baggio's ambition can be summed up in one goal: to rebuild the foundation, to create better players suited to modern football. But it all remained on paper.