Vietnam national under-23 football team


The Vietnam national under-22, under-23, and Olympic football team represents Vietnam in international football tournaments at the under-22 and under-23 age level.

History

Early years and downfall

The team is considered to be the feeder team for the Vietnam national football team. During the 2005 Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines, a betting and match-fixing scandal involving the team former captain Lê Quốc Vượng shocked the team reputation. The scandal destroyed several of the team players careers, including striker Phạm Văn Quyến and shattered Vietnamese public image towards the youth team to which many of their football fans shied away from the sport with the number of football attendance also decrease dramatically.

Youth redevelopment and revival

In 2007, the Hoàng Anh Gia Lai – Arsenal JMG Academy was established through partnership with Arsenal F.C., JMG Academy and the Vietnamese privately owned Hoàng Anh Gia Lai Corporation to revive the Vietnamese football scenes. Through training of the Vietnamese youth in the academy, this subsequently produced many new talented players which become part of the new generation of the under-23 squad.

AFC U-23 Championship

2016 AFC U-23 Championship

Under Japanese coach Toshiya Miura, Vietnam made their first debut in this tournament having qualified from the AFC U-23 qualification in 2016. Positioned in Group I in the qualifiers, Vietnam claimed their first victory over Malaysia by 2–1, though losing to Japan by 0–2 in the next match. The team managed to gain a large victory over Macau by 7–0 in their last group match, and subsequently became the group runners-up. The team then placed in Group D, where they lost 1–3 to Jordan, 0–2 to Australia, and 2–3 to United Arab Emirates.

2018 AFC U-23 Championship and the beginning of the Golden Generation

The team made their second entry in this tournament under South Korean coach Park Hang-seo having qualified from the AFC U-23 qualification in 2018. Drawn again in Group I in the qualifiers, the team started their first match with a 4–0 victory over Timor-Leste before accomplishing a great win of 8–1 over Macau. Although they lost to South Korea by 1–2 in the third group match, Vietnam qualified to the AFC U-23 Championship as the Group I runners-up. The team then placed again in Group D. Although they lost again to South Korea by 1–2, the team bounced back and defeated Australia by 1–0 before drawing 0–0 with Syria. The team became the group runners-up and subsequently became the first Southeast Asian team, alongside Malaysia, who were able to qualify into the quarter finals for the first time in the tournament as well in both team's history. At the quarter finals, Vietnam managed to lead the match into additional time with a draw score of 3–3 against former champion Iraq, before winning the penalty shoot-out by 5–3, sending the team to semi-finals. The team then met Qatar with the match ending in another draw of 2–2 where they won the match with their second penalty shoot-out of the tournament by 4–3, resulting in the team being the first Southeast Asian football team in history to go to the finals in the competition's history and for the first time ever Vietnam had participated in the final of an AFC competition. At the finals, Vietnam lost to Uzbekistan by 1–2, claiming second place. Despite Vietnam's failure to win the tournament, this was hailed as a historic achievement for Vietnam and the team received national wide welcome after returning from China and subsequently honored by the state for its historic performance.

2020 AFC U-23 Championship

Vietnam tried to run for the race to host the competition, but was eventually beaten by Thailand over the hosting rights. Thus, Vietnam had to take part on the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification where Vietnam was seeded together with Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei, Thailand officially qualified regardless of results. Even though being seeded in a tough group, Vietnam went on to overcome both opponents with over 11 goals scored and conceded none, topping the group with a perfect fashion including the famed 4–0 win over Thailand. In the main stage which served as the qualification for the 2020 Summer Olympics, Vietnam was again seeded into group D where they would once again reunite with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, alongside North Korea. They had two 0-0 draws over United Arab Emirates and Jordan, before lose to North Korea by 1-2 and being eliminated by finished last place in the group.

Asian Games

2018 Asian Games

In the 2018 Asian Games, Vietnam made another remarkable achievement under the guidance of coach Park as they qualified to the semi-finals for the first time in their history with a :wikt:clean sheet|clean sheet. Drawn in Group D, the team beat Pakistan by 3–0, Nepal by 2–0, and former champion Japan by 1–0 to lead the group. In the second round, Vietnam then met Bahrain and defeated them by 1–0 before defeating Syria 1–0 in the quarter-finals in a match that went to overtime. At the semi-finals, Vietnam met the defending champion South Korea, led by their 2018 FIFA World Cup players such as pair strikers Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan and their goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo, where they failed to continue their path to the finals after losing by 1–3. The team then met United Arab Emirates for the bronze medal match. The score remained 1–1 after extra time, and they ended up losing the penalty shoot-out 3–4.

Southeast Asian Games

2019 Southeast Asian Games

The victory in the 2019 football edition of the Southeast Asian Games is considered as the country first ever SEA Games men's football title since the Vietnamese reunification, having won the first edition of the 1959 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games through South Vietnam. In the 2019 edition, Vietnam opened their campaign in Group B with a large victory over Brunei by 6–0 as well as Laos by 6–1 before defeating Indonesia and Singapore through a slim win by 2–1 and 1–0 respectively. In their last match in the group, Vietnam able to drawn itself by 2–2 against long-time SEA Games men's dominating champion Thailand after being left by two goals in the earlier minutes. After successfully securing themselves in the top group standings, they then meet the rising team of Cambodia in the semi-finals and defeat them with a large win of 4–0 before meeting Indonesia again in the final and defeat them by 3–0 to secure the title after 60 years long-waited.

Sponsorship

Primary sponsors includes:
Local sponsor includes:

Continental

Olympic Games

AFC U-23 Championship

SEA Games

VFF Cup

Schedules and results

2019

2020

Current squad

The following 23 players were called up for 2020 AFC U-23 Championship

Previous squads

;Southeast Asian Games
;Asian Games
;AFC U-23 Championship

Coaches

Coaches by years since 1999
Image Name Nationality From To Win% Achievements
Park Hang-seo11 10 2017Present
 2017 M-150 Cup
2018 AFC U-23 Championship
2018 VFF Cup
4th place: 2018 Asian Games
2019 Southeast Asian Games		-------
Kim Han-Yoon
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Nguyễn Quốc Tuấn 17 1 201926 2 2019
 2019 AFF U-22 Youth Championship-------
Nguyễn Hữu Thắng3 3 201627 8 2017
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Toshiya Miura8 5 201428 1 2016
2014 Asian Games: Round of 16
2015 Southeast Asian Games		-------
Hoàng Văn Phúc16 5 20134 4 2014
 2012 BTV Cup
2013 BTV Cup		-------
Lư Đình Tuấn
-------
Falko Götz1 6 20116 1 2012
 2011 Ho Chi Minh City Football Cup
2011 VFF Cup		-------
Phan Thanh Hùng
2010 Asian Games: Round of 16
2010 Ho Chi Minh City Football Cup		-------
Henrique Calisto1 3 2011
 2009 VFF Cup
2009 Southeast Asian Games		-------
Mai Đức Chung
 2008 Merdeka Tournament-------
Alfred Riedl
 2003 Southeast Asian Games
2005 VFF Cup
2005 Southeast Asian Games
2007 VFF Cup		-------
Nguyễn Thành Vinh22 8 200231 12 2002
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Christian Letard
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Dido25 9 2001
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Quản Trọng Hùng
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