Vietnam ascend in Asian football rankings as clubs do well

According to FootyRankings, Vietnam have 28.168 points, which put them above Australia, who with 27.772 points dropped five places to 16th.

In Southeast Asia, they are behind Thailand (58.369 points) and the Philippines (32.915 points).

Responsible for the rise of Vietnam on football league rankings are two clubs, HCMC FC and Than Quang Ninh, who put up impressive performances in the AFC Cup. HCMC drew with Myanmar’s Yangon United then beat Hougang United in Singapore to top their group.

Than Quang Ninh had a rough start with a loss against Indonesian club Bali United, but then played out a laudable 2-2 draw against a strong Ceres Negros.

AFC divides Asian clubs into two different regions, East Asia and West Asia. In the East Asia region, Vietnam rank seventh, which guarantee a direct slot in the 2021 AFC Champions League for the V. League 1 2020 champions since the number of participants will be increased from 32 to 40.

The AFC Country Ranking calculates points for countries based on the performances of their clubs in the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup.

In 2019 Hanoi FC and Becamex Binh Duong brought 10.752 points to Vietnam after their excellent progress in the AFC Cup.

Japan lead the rankings with 100 points, followed by Saudi Arabia (95.006) and China (93.306).

The next round of AFC Cup group matches will be played on March 10 and 11.