Kuala Lumpur, April 12, 2025 – On the sidelines of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Congress in Malaysia, Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) President Tran Quoc Tuan and Chinese Football Association (CFA) President Song Kai held talks, agreeing to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to advance football development in both nations. The move strengthens ties between the two federations and signals a shared commitment to elevating their respective football landscapes.
The forthcoming MoU builds on an already positive relationship. In 2024, the CFA invited multiple Vietnamese teams—women’s national team, women’s futsal, U21, U19 men’s, and U16 men’s—to compete in high-caliber international friendlies hosted in China. These included matches against teams like Japan’s U19s and Brazil’s U21s, offering Vietnam’s players—like those feeding into Hanoi Police FC and The Cong Viettel—valuable exposure. Ahead of the 2027 AFC U17 Asian Cup qualifiers, the CFA extended an official invite to Vietnam’s U16 team for a preparatory friendly tournament later this year.
Tran Quoc Tuan emphasized the MoU’s potential to drive progress, noting Vietnam’s ambition to mirror successes like their 2024 ASEAN Cup triumph. Song Kai echoed the sentiment, citing China’s recent youth investments, such as the CFA’s partnership with Germany’s DFB. Both leaders see collaboration as key to competing in Asia’s crowded field, where Japan and Saudi Arabia dominate.
The VFF has existing cooperation agreements with federations from Japan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, South Korea, and Brazil, among others. Adding China—whose men’s team reached the 2024 AFC Asian Cup quarterfinals—enhances Vietnam’s network. These partnerships facilitate exchanges, like Vietnam’s U19s training in Qatar last year, and elevate standards across coaching, refereeing, and youth systems.
This deepened alliance promises more joint initiatives, from shared training camps to talent scouting, benefiting clubs like Song Lam Nghe An and Hoang Anh Gia Lai indirectly. With Asia’s football scene intensifying—India and Uzbekistan also rising—Vietnam’s proactive outreach could unlock breakthroughs, eyeing goals like the 2027 Asian Cup and a return to the FIFA World Cup qualifiers’ third round, last reached in 2022.
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