Vietnam U17 football team rewarded with nearly $38,000 after securing 2026 World Cup berth

The team qualified by defeating the United Arab Emirates 3-2 in their final Group C match at the AFC U-17 Asian Cup early on Thursday.

The victory sent Vietnam into the quarterfinals of the continental tournament, where they will face Australia on Sunday.

The AFC U-17 Asian Cup serves as Asia’s qualifier for the FIFA U-17 World Cup, with the tournament’s top eight teams, or the quarterfinalists, qualifying for the World Cup, which will be held in Qatar from November 19 to December 13.

VFF president Tran Quoc Tuan, who attended the tournament in Saudi Arabia, congratulated the team and praised the players’ fighting spirit after bouncing back from an earlier defeat to South Korea.

He urged the squad to remain disciplined and focused ahead of the quarterfinal against Australia, whom Vietnam beat 2-1 in the semifinals of the ASEAN U-17 Championship last month.