Vietnam encouraged to take chance to shine during FIFA President meeting
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has hailed the passion for football during a meeting with Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of Vietnam, adding that through a shared commitment to structured development and foundations, Vietnam can seize its place on football’s global stage.
The meeting examined topics that will increase the growth of football in the country, including FIFA’s availability to work with the Vietnam Football Federation on technical matters with a localised strategy derived from the Global Analysis Report and the inspiration provided by the men’s national team in reaching the third round of qualifying for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
“Vietnam is an incredibly passionate country for football, and we welcome the support of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc in continuing this drive for participation,” added Mr Infantino.
“This qualification for the [FIFA] World Cup shows that Vietnam is very, very close to qualifying. I was in Saudi Arabia last week for the final of the AFC Champions League and I met with officials from the Saudi Arabian Football Federation who commented that against Vietnam, it was very, very tight, as all the results have been.
“As of the FIFA World Cup in 2026, there will be eight Asian teams rather than four qualifying”, President Infantino continued. “We have doubled the number of Asian teams and this gives a real chance to teams like Vietnam, who work very hard at youth level, to play at a FIFA World Cup and also, the FIFA Women’s World Cup.”
The next edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will feature 32 teams for the first time in 2023 and the expansion will encourage member associations to further strengthen their technical development and infrastructure in order to compete in the international arena.
“No other sphere has an impact like football has and the power of sentiment that it has to bring nations together“, said President Nguyen Xuan Phuc. “It evokes a special spirit and more and more people from around the world love football and it attracts the attention of people across the generations. I fully support the idea of the [FIFA] President that we shouldn’t only take care of [developing] one part, but indeed all corners of the world.”
