Opportunities wide open for Vietnam to realise FIFA Women’s World Cup dream

Early on December 25 (Vietnamese time), the FIFA Council decided to increase the number of participants in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup from 24 to 32, lighting up hopes for the Vietnamese team to realise their World Cup dream.

The Vietnamese women's football team will convene a training camp in January 2021 to prepare for their key tasks set for the year.
The Vietnamese women's football team will convene a training camp in January 2021 to prepare for their key tasks set for the year.

FIFA’s decision was made based on the success of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France as well as FIFA’s plan to further accelerate the development of women’s football around the world.

Accordingly, among the total 29 direct slots, UEFA (Europe) will get the largest share with 11, while CAF (Africa) and CONCACAF (North, Central American and Carribean) both have four, followed by followed by AFC (Asia) with six, CONMEBOL (South America) with three and OFC (Oceania) one.

The remaining three slots will be decided through a play-off tournament with AFC allocated two slots.

The two host countries of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Australia and New Zealand, will automatically qualify, and their slots have been taken directly from the quotas allocated to their confederations, namely the AFC and the OFC respectively. This means there remain five direct slots up for grab in Asia.

The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup will feature 32 participating teams.

In addition to powerhouses Japan, China and the Republic of Korea, some lower-rated teams such as Vietnam, Thailand and Chinese Taipei, will have additional opportunities to compete for a World Cup berth.

According to the FIFA Women’s World Rankings for December 2020, Vietnam are ranked 34th (Thailand 38th and Chinese Taipei 39th), first in Southeast Asia and fifth in Asia.

In January 2021, Mai Duc Chung’s troops will convene a training camp for around one month to make preparations for their key tasks set for the year, including the AFF Women’s Championship, the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31), and the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualifiers, which serve as the first stage of Asian qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.