The Vietnam national under-23 and Olympic football team () represents Vietnam in international football tournaments at the under-22 and under-23 age level.

History Early years and downfall

The team is considered to be the feeder team for the Vietnam national football team, with its successes and performance are usually consistent and closely associated with its senior counterpart. The under-23 team played their first unofficial matches in the 1997 Independence Cup, and played their first official match against Indonesia on 26 April 1999. The Vietnamese football team did not enjoy relative success until 2003, when they came second in that year's Southeast Asian Games as hosts.

During the 2005 Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines, a betting and match-fixing scandal involving the team captain Lê Quốc Vượng shocked the team reputation. The scandal destroyed the careers of several players on the squad, including striker Phạm Văn Quyến and shattered Vietnamese public image towards the youth team, making many of their football fans stay away from the sport along with the a dramatic decrease in attendance for matches.

Youth redevelopment and revival In 2007, the Hoàng Anh Gia Lai – Arsenal JMG Academy was established through a partnership with Arsenal F.C., JMG Academy and the Vietnamese privately owned Hoàng Anh Gia Lai Corporation to revive the Vietnamese youth football. Through training of the Vietnamese youth players in the academy, this subsequently produced many new talented players which became part of the new generation of under-23s.

However, the redevelopment program wouldn't bring immediate success. Although Vietnam was able to produce some surprising performances in tournaments, such as reaching the round of 16 in the 2014 Asian Games, the team generally failed to deliver the expected regional dominance, most notably coming second in the 2009 Southeast Asian Games as favorites to win the tournament and only finishing third in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games with an extremely talented squad. The greatest disappointment came in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, when Vietnam were eliminated in the group stage despite the squad being regarded as the most talented squad since the revival period, containing many players who had participated in the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

AFC U-23 Asian Cup

2016 AFC U-23 Championship

Under Japanese coach Toshiya Miura, Vietnam made their debut in the tournament having qualified from the AFC U-23 qualification in 2016. Positioned in Group I in the qualifiers, Vietnam claimed their first victory over Malaysia by beating them 2–1, though they would lose 0–2 to Japan afterwards but managed to bounce back with a 7–0 win over Macau in their last group match, and became the group runners-up. The team was then placed in Group D, where they lost 1–3 to Jordan, 0–2 to Australia, and 2–3 to United Arab Emirates.

2018 AFC U-23 Championship and the beginning of the Golden Generation

The team made their second entry in this tournament under South Korean coach Park Hang-seo having qualified from the AFC U-23 qualification in 2018. Drawn again in Group I in the qualifiers, the team started their first match with a 4–0 victory over Timor-Leste before accomplishing a great win of 8–1 over Macau. Although they lost to South Korea by 1–2 in the third group match, Vietnam qualified to the AFC U-23 Championship as the Group I runners-up. The team then placed again in Group D. Although they lost again to South Korea by 1–2, the team bounced back and defeated Australia by 1–0 before drawing 0–0 with Syria. The team became the group runners-up and subsequently became the first Southeast Asian team, alongside Malaysia, who were able to qualify into the quarter finals for the first time in the tournament as well in both teams' history. At the quarter finals, Vietnam managed to lead the match into additional time with a draw score of 3–3 against former champion Iraq, before winning the penalty shoot-out by 5–3, sending the team to semi-finals. The team then met Qatar with the match ending in another draw of 2–2 where they won the match with their second penalty shoot-out of the tournament by 4–3, resulting in the team being the first Southeast Asian football team in history to go to the finals in the competition's history and for the first time ever Vietnam had participated in the final of an AFC competition. At the finals, Vietnam lost to Uzbekistan by 1–2, claiming second place. Despite Vietnam's failure to win the tournament, this was hailed as a historic achievement for Vietnam and the team received national wide welcome after returning from China and subsequently honored by the state for its historic performance.

2020 AFC U-23 Championship

Vietnam tried to run for the race to host the competition, but was eventually beaten by Thailand over the hosting rights. Thus, Vietnam had to take part on the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification where Vietnam was seeded together with Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei, Thailand officially qualified regardless of results. Even though being seeded in a tough group, Vietnam went on to overcome both opponents with over 11 goals scored and conceded none, topping the group with a perfect fashion including the famed 4–0 win over Thailand. In the main stage which served as the qualification for the 2020 Summer Olympics, Vietnam was again seeded into group D where they would once again reunite with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, alongside North Korea. They had two 0-0 draws over United Arab Emirates and Jordan, before lose to North Korea by 1-2 and being eliminated by finished last place in the group.

2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

Vietnam were drawn in Group I of the 2022 qualifiers, along with Myanmar and Chinese Taipei, defeating both teams with narrow 1–0 victories to qualify for the main tournament. Vietnam was seeded into Group C with defending champions South Korea along with neighbors Thailand and Malaysia. After Park Hang-seo's exit from the under-23 national team, Vietnam entered the 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup under the brief management of Gong Oh-kyun. Vietnam played their first match against rivals Thailand; despite taking the lead twice, Vietnam was forced to share a point with Thailand. The Golden Star Warriors then met South Korea, managing to produce a shock 1–1 draw, and defeated Malaysia 2–0 to reach the quarter-finals for the second time. However, Vietnam's campaign would end with a 0–2 defeat to eventual champions Saudi Arabia.

2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

In the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification, Vietnam was positioned in Group C as hosts along with Yemen, Singapore and Guam. The team topped the group with a dominant 6–0 win against Guam and a close 1–0 victory against Yemen, before drawing 2–2 to Singapore to qualify for the final tournament. Vietnam were then drawn in Group D along with Uzbekistan, Kuwait and Malaysia. The team started the campaign with comfortable 3–1 and 2–0 wins against Kuwait and Malaysia, respectively, before losing 0–3 to Uzbekistan in the final match, missing the chance to top the group. In the quarter-finals, Vietnam suffered a tough 0–1 defeat to Iraq and thus were eliminated, missing the chance to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

Vietnam took part in the 2026 qualifiers, being placed into Group C, reuniting with Yemen and Singapore, and also meeting Bangladesh. Under the leadership of new manager Kim Sang-sik, Vietnam started the qualifiers with a 2–0 win against Bangladesh, followed up by 1–0 wins against Singapore and Yemen to qualify for the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup with three out of three wins. Unlike the previous two editions, Vietnam found themselves in a much more difficult group, being seeded in Group A with hosts Saudi Arabia, Jordan and debutants Kyrgyzstan. Vietnam begun their campaign with a surprising 2–0 win against Jordan as underdogs, before defeating Kyrgyzstan 2–1 in the second match. After that, Vietnam achieved an upset 1–0 victory against hosts Saudi Arabia, topping the group with all nine points acquired for the first time in history. After a perfect group stage performance, Vietnam met United Arab Emirates in the quarter-finals. Vietnam managed to overcome the United Arab Emirates 3–2 in extra-time, reaching the semi-finals for the second time ever. However, the team's ambitions for the historic title would come to an end as they suffered a 0–3 defeat to China in the semi-finals. Following the semi-final defeat, the "Golden Star Warriors" then met South Korea in the third-place match. After dragging the match to extra time with a thrilling 2–2 draw, Vietnam produced another astonishing victory as they defeated Korea 7–6 on penalties, finishing their 2026 campaign finishing at third place. This is the first time that Vietnam defeat South Korea in U23's level in history. Similarly to 2018, the squad was praised for its remarkable performance during the tournament.

Asian Games

2018 Asian Games

In the 2018 Asian Games, Vietnam made another remarkable achievement under the guidance of coach Park as they qualified to the semi-finals for the first time in their history with a clean sheet. Drawn in Group D, the team beat Pakistan by 3–0, Nepal by 2–0, and former champion Japan by 1–0 to lead the group. In the second round, Vietnam then met Bahrain and defeated them by 1–0 before defeating Syria 1–0 in the quarter-finals in a match that went to overtime. At the semi-finals, Vietnam met the defending champion South Korea, led by their 2018 FIFA World Cup players such as pair strikers Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan and their goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo, where they failed to continue their path to the finals after losing by 1–3. The team then met United Arab Emirates for the bronze medal match. The score remained 1–1 after extra time, and they ended up losing the penalty shoot-out 3–4. 2022 Asian Games

Olympic Vietnam participated in the 2022 Asian Games. The tournament, scheduled to begin in September 2022, was delayed to September–October 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Vietnam were seeded into a difficult Group B along with Saudi Arabia, Iran and Mongolia. After a 4–2 win against Mongolia in the opening match, Vietnam faced heavy 0–4 and 1–3 defeats to Iran and Saudi Arabia, finishing third in the group. Out of the five groups, Vietnam ranked worst among the third-placed teams, and thus were eliminated early from the competition.

2026 Asian Games

Vietnam was unable to assemble their best squad in preparation for the 2026 Asian Games, due to the schedule colliding with the national team's 2026 FIFA ASEAN Cup campaign. Caretaker coach Đinh Hồng Vinh replaced Kim Sang-sik as Olympic Vietnam's manager for the 2026 Asian Games. U-23 Vietnam was positioned in Group C alongside Uzbekistan, Philippines and Kuwait. Vietnam started the campaign with an underwhelming 1–1 draw against Kuwait, followed by an 2–0 victory over the Philippines. Although they lost 0–2 to Uzbekistan in the final group match, they finished second of Group C and advanced to the knockouts. However, Vietnam's run ended with an 0–4 defeat over eventual winners South Korea in the quarter-finals.

Southeast Asian Games

2019 Southeast Asian Games