The Vietnam national team is about to enter its most important tournament.

The 2026 Women's Asian Cup represents a top-priority task for Coach Mai Đức Chung's squad.

The 2026 Women's Asian Cup will take place in Australia from March 1 to 21, immediately following the Lunar New Year holiday. This requires the Vietnam women's team to quickly regroup and intensively prepare for a tournament considered a significant milestone for the nation's women's football in the new cycle.

As in previous editions, the Women's Asian Cup serves as the Asian qualifying round for the 2027 Women's World Cup. Therefore, to replicate the achievement of qualifying for the 2023 World Cup, Coach Mai Đức Chung's team must secure positive results. This is viewed as the most important gateway for Vietnam women's football to maintain its status on the world stage.

According to FIFA's allocation, Asia has 6 direct spots for the 2027 Women's World Cup plus 2 intercontinental play-off places. These spots are determined through the 2026 Women's Asian Cup, which features 12 teams divided into 3 groups; the group winners and runners-up advance to the quarterfinals. Teams winning quarterfinals secure direct qualification, while losing teams still have a chance through the play-offs.

In this year's tournament, Vietnam is placed in Group C alongside Japan, India, and Chinese Taipei. The immediate goal is to pass the group stage and reach the quarterfinals, thereby keeping the chance to compete for a World Cup spot alive. Experts assess that strong teams such as Japan, North Korea, China, South Korea, and Australia are almost guaranteed qualification, making the remaining competition fierce among evenly matched teams like Vietnam, the Philippines, and Uzbekistan.

Beyond World Cup qualification, the 2026 Women's Asian Cup also marks the start of the qualification journey for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The eight quarterfinalists will advance to the final round competing for Olympic tickets, with Asia allocated 2.5 spots. Although Olympic qualification is very challenging, reaching the advanced qualification stages offers valuable experience and high-level competition opportunities for Vietnam's women's team.

Therefore, the 2026 Women's Asian Cup holds decisive significance for the development strategy of Vietnam women's football during 2027–2028. A strong performance not only opens doors to major tournaments but also helps the team maintain a steady schedule of quality international matches. This serves as an important stepping stone for Vietnam women's football to continue asserting its ambitions at the continental level and avoid missing opportunities as some regional teams have experienced.

'The Vietnam women's team is ready to sacrifice and determined to do everything to achieve success.'

The Vietnam women's team has resumed training, with the VFF President visiting and encouraging them.