The Vietnamese women’s national football team in contention for Women’s World Cup 2023 place

2023 will mark the first time that the Women’s World Cup competitions take place in two countries. Both co-hosts, Australia and New Zealand, play in different competition systems, with the former in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the latter in the Oceania Football Confederation.

In addition, the tournament will also become the first edition that features 32 teams from all continents, meaning that Asia-Pacific region will have eight teams automatically winning a place to compete in the finals, while an additional team will have the chance to progress via a play-off match against a team from another confederation.

With Australia automatically qualifying for the tournament as a co-host, the number of strong Asian teams, including Vietnam, competing in the qualifying rounds will be reduced.

According to the latest FIFA rankings, Vietnam are the sixth strongest team in Asia, just behind Japan, the Republic of Korea, China, Australia, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

If they are able to reach their potential when taking part in the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, a tournament which will also serve as a qualifying event for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Vietnamese team led by head coach Mai Duc Chung will make a history by progressing to the global tournament’s final round for the first time.

The 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup is set to get underway in India, featuring the participation of 12 regional teams. The leading eight teams will then go through to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, while the ninth-place team will take part in a play-off match against a representative from another continental confederation.