Vietnam national women's football team ascend world rankings

Despite not competing internationally since March last year, Vietnam moved from 34th to 33rd with 1,657 points, as the Replublic of Ireland dropped from 31st to 34th after losing two consecutive matches to Belgium and Denmark in Women’s Euro qualifiers.

The last international game Vietnam women’s team played was on March 11, 2020 when they lost 1-2 against Australia, sealing their exit from Olympic qualifers. This was the first time Vietnam had scored against Australia after eight games played over 12 years.

Right above Vietnam on the rankings are Wales with 1,658.19 points and Ukraine with 1,661.41 points.

Vietnam are still the number one team in Southeast Asia, followed by Thailand and Myanmar. In Asia, the team are sixth, below Australia, North Korea, Japan, China and South Korea.

The world’s top five team are still the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands, France and Sweden.

Vietnam Football Federation aims to see the team qualify for Women’s World Cup 2023 hosted in New Zealand and Australia. With FIFA increasing the number of teams in the tournament from 24 to 32, opportunities have opened for many teams, including Vietnam. In 2019, Vietnam were only one game away from World Cup but lost to Thailand in the final play-off.

Eight countries to directly qualify for the 2023 World Cup will be decided after the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, with the country finishing ninth to enter the play-off against a team from another region.