Vietnam women’s football – World Cup dream has come true

Dream come true

In ASEAN, the Vietnamese women’s team once had only two worthy opponents, Myanmar and especially Thailand. Although the race to the top positions of the ASEAN women’s tournament or the SEA Games takes place only between 3 teams, it is highly competitive because the two aforementioned competitors are always evaluated as “equal” with the team of head coach Mai Duc Chung. But in the past few years, the Vietnamese women’s team has added a formidable opponent, the Philippines. The policy of using Filipino-American players in Europe, America… has turned the Philippines into a formidable force.

However, with the long tradition as well as the methodical and thorough investment of the VFF, the Vietnamese women’s team still retains the No. 1 position in the region. Only for the term VIII (2018-2022) of the VFF, Vietnamese girls have won the SEA Games gold medal twice (2019, 2021) to bring the total number of championships in this playground to 7, surpassing them. up compared to 5 gold medals of the rival tournament Thailand. In the SEA women’s tournament, the Vietnamese women’s team won the 2019 championship.

When the ticket to the 2015 Women’s World Cup was thought to be within reach, the Vietnamese women’s team unfortunately lost after losing to Thailand in the play-off match at Thong Nhat Stadium in 2014. It was a thing that the dream of the World Cup was still far for the Vietnamese women’s team. In that case, because of that defeat, our women’s national team is always at a disadvantage when the AFC seeded the group due to having to face the strongest teams in the continent. However, when the opportunity is still there, it also means not giving up ambition. It is this spirit that has brought a perfect result for the Vietnamese women’s team in the 2022 Asian Women’s Finals so that we can hold tickets to the 2023 Women’s World Cup for the first time.

Success does not come naturally

Dominating in the SEA Games, having been crowned in the SEA women’s tournament in the past 4 years or the ticket to the 2023 Women’s World Cup does not come naturally to the Vietnamese women’s team. It is the result of a strong and methodical investment strategy from the VFF.

Compared to men’s football, women’s football only occupies a modest position in the hearts of fans, so raising the sponsorship is also difficult, although the achievements of the Vietnamese golden girls in the international arena are quite good. But in order to ensure that Vietnamese women’s football in general and the women’s national team in particular are not left behind, inferior to teams in the region as well as in the continent, VFF has made significant investments to improve expertise and international competition experience. This is considered a key factor, deciding the success of the Vietnamese women’s team.

With extensive and close international relationships, the VIII term of VFF has brought the Vietnamese women’s team to the top women’s football platforms in the continent such as Korea and Japan for training. These tours had helped the Vietnamese women’s team grow up a lot. In order to give the players the opportunity to test their ability against the playing style of many different subjects, the Vietnam Football Federation has decided to send the Vietnamese women’s team to Europe for training. The training trip in Spain or France with the friendly match against the French women’s team in July not only helped the players improve their skills, but also felt appreciated, so that they had to be more determined when starting the game.

It is the strong and long-term investment of the VFF that has contributed to improving the quality and level of the Vietnamese women’s team. And Mr. Mai Duc Chung’s team knew how to overcome all obstacles when the Covid-19 epidemic surrounded to make history by winning tickets to the 2023 Women’s World Cup.