Vietnamese futsal team to play Hungary and Russia in friendly matches
VOV.VN - The Vietnamese national futsal team are set to face Hungary and Russia in two friendly matches on September 17 and September 19, respectively, with both games taking place in Ho Chi Minh City to prepare for upcoming international tournaments.
The Hungarian players arrived in Vietnam on September 13 and have been taking part in warm-up exercises before the friendly game which is due to take place four days later at Lanh Binh Thang competition hall in Ho Chi Minh City.
The national futsal team of Hungary once competed at the Futsal World Cup back in 1989 where they finished in fifth position. They also qualified for the final round of the European futsal championships three times in 2005, 2010, and 2016.
Hungary are currently placed 28th in the FIFA futsal rankings. Meanwhile, the Russian futsal team are scheduled to land at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on September 16.
Three players who participated in the Russian campaign to reach the UEFA Futsal EURO 2022 finals have been registered to compete against the Vietnamese futsal team. They include famous captain Dmitry Prudnikov, forward Anton Sokolov, and goalkeeper Dmitri Putilov.
Russia qualified for seven World Cups from 1992 to 2000 and from 2008 to 2021, along with every edition of the European Championships. They won the European Championships once, in 1999, with their best World Cup performance coming in 2016 where they finished runners-up.
The Vietnamese team have played in two FIFA Futsal World Cups before, in 2016 and 2020, reaching the knockout-stage in both tournaments. At the most recent World Cup, they ended their campaign in the round of 16. They are now 39th in the world’s rankings.
The friendly games will be a warm up for the national futsal team ahead of the qualifying round of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Futsal Asian Cup 2024.
The qualifiers for the 2024 AFC Futsal Asian Cup are due to begin on October 7 in Mongolia.
Vietnam are in Group D and will face the tournament's hosts Mongolia, Nepal, and the Republic of Korea (RoK) on October 7, October 9, and October 11, respectively. Among them, the RoK are likely to represent the biggest challenge for the nation.
A total of 31 Asian futsal teams have been divided into eight groups in the 2024 AFC Futsal Asian Cup.
The participating teams will compete in a round-robin format, with the best eight group winners and seven second-placed teams progressing through to the final round, which will also serve as the qualifying round of the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup.
