VFF appoints coach Cristiano Roland to lead Vietnam U16 to attend U17 Asian tournament
The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has officially appointed coach Roland Cristiano to lead the Vietnam U16 team, to prepare for the 2025 AFC U17 Qualifiers.
On the afternoon of July 31, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) announced the appointment of Mr. Cristiano Roland to lead the Vietnam U16 team to prepare for the 2025 AFC U17 Qualifiers.
Mr. Cristiano Roland was born in 1976, a Brazilian national. He was previously a player of Hanoi Club and was considered to have made an important contribution to the capital team's two V.League championships from 2009 to 2013.
After retiring, Mr. Cristiano Roland invested in his coaching career and soon completed the AFC C/Certified Coaching Course organized by VFF in 2014. After that, Mr. Cristiano Roland continued to improve his expertise through the UEFA C, B, A certified coaching training courses from 2017 to 2023.
During his training, Mr. Cristiano Roland was trusted to participate in or be in charge of training youth from U9 to U19 at clubs in Portugal and Luxembourg. In Vietnam, Mr. Cristiano Roland held the position of Assistant Head Coach of Becamex Binh Duong Club in 2021, Head Coach of Hanoi U15 team in 2023 and most recently led Hanoi U17 to excellent victory in the National U17 Championship - Thai Son Nam Cup 2024.
In addition, before being appointed as head coach of the Vietnam U16 team, Mr. Cristiano Roland also joined the coaching staff of the Vietnam U16 team during the first training period of 2024, so he is considered to have many advantages when officially taking over the leadership of the Vietnam U16 team towards the 2025 Asian U17 Qualifiers, taking place next October.
To prepare for the 2025 U17 Asian Qualifiers, coach Cristiano Roland has selected and proposed a list of 28 players for the Vietnam U16 team, half of whom have been "tested" at the recent 2024 U16 Southeast Asian Championship.
The remaining squad consists of players who have shown convincing performance at the National U17 Championship - Thai Son Nam Cup 2024, including prominent names added such as Nguyen Van Thang Long - Best Goalkeeper of the Final Round of the National U17 Championship - Thai Son Nam Cup 2024, or the duo of players who scored the most goals in the Final Round, Dang Cong Anh Kiet and Tran Hong Kien.
According to the schedule, the Vietnam U16 team will start training at the Vietnam Youth Football Training Center from August 1, 2024, preparing to participate in the international U16 friendly tournament - Peace Cup 2024 from August 16-20 in China.
Coach Cristiano Roland and his team's opponents in this tournament are U16 China, U16 Uzbekistan and U16 Japan. After this useful training session, U16 Vietnam will continue to be given the opportunity by VFF to go to Japan for training in mid-September, to complete the final preparations before competing in the 2025 U17 Asian qualifiers.
In the 2025 AFC U17 Championship qualifiers, the Vietnam U16 team (then called Vietnam U17) is the host team of Group I (expected to be held at Viet Tri Stadium, Phu Tho), and will welcome opponents Kyrgyzstan U17 (October 23), Myanmar U17 (October 25) and Yemen U17 (October 27)./.
