Viet Nam advances to third round of 2022 World Cup qualifiers for first time

VGP – Viet Nam has made its first-time-ever entry into the third round of Asia's FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifying as one of the best group’s runners-up.

June 16, 2021 9:15 AM GMT+7

Viet Nam is among 12 teams booking a place at the final round of Asia's FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Despite losing 2-3 to the United Arab Emirates in the last fixture of Group G on early June 16, Viet Nam finished the second round as the fourth-best runner-up, with one point adrift from the group winner United Arab Emirates.

Newcomer Viet Nam will join seven group winners namely Syria, Australia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, and the Republic of Korea, and four best runners-up namely China, Oman, Iraq, and Lebanon in the next round scheduled to take place between September 2021 and March 2022.

The 12 teams will be devided into two groups to play home-and-away round-robin games to select top two teams from each group to advance to the 2022 FIFA World Cup while two third-placed teams face off against each other to earn their slot.

The second qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in Asia is also the second qualifying round of the 2023 Asian Cup.

The eight group winners and four runners-up with high achievements will win a place in the 2023 Asian Cup finals without having to play the third qualifying round.

By Thuy Dung