Vietnamese futsal team in contention for Futsal World Cup spot
VOV.VN - The Vietnamese national futsal team could be selected to compete at the Futsal World Cup which will get underway in Lithuania in September, in the event that the AFC Futsal Championship is cancelled due to complicated developments relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite originally being scheduled to be held in February, 2020, the AFC Futsal Championship was postponed until March of this year following consultation with all relevant stakeholders amid the global spread of COVID-19.
The organisation of the competition has yet to be decided, with AFC still needing to choose five sides to participate in the upcoming FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania.
Due to this, the AFC plans to cancel the AFC Futsal Championship to ensure COVID-19 prevention measures. Moving forward, the regional body will then select representatives to compete at the World Cup according to the rankings of teams at the three previous versions of the AFC Futsal Championship.
Providing that this calculation gains approval, the Vietnamese futsal team will qualify as the AFC’s representatives for the FIFA Futsal World Cup due to the team being ranked in fifth place.
In the three most recent regional competitions, the Vietnamese team qualified for the quarterfinals in the 2014 and 2018 versions, while progressing to the semifinals in 2016.
Five years previously, the Vietnamese futsal team beat reigning champions Japan on penalties in the quarterfinals of the AFC Futsal Championship to qualify for the 2016 World Cup in Colombia, the side’s first ever time at the global tournament.
