Comparison of Indonesian and Vietnamese youth football achievements – Graphic: AN BINH
At 0:30 a.m. on April 26, U23 Indonesia will face U23 Korea in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Asian U23 Championship in Qatar. Coach Shin Tae Yong (U23 Indonesia) said he did not want to face his hometown team, but there was no other way.
In Southeast Asia, Vietnam is the second most successful football country, after Thailand. Specifically, Thai football has won a total of 49 championships (counted across all levels, both men and women, beach soccer and futsal). With 14 championships, Vietnamese football is currently ranked 2nd in the region, 4 more championships than third-ranked football, Australia.
If only counting the youth tournaments of men’s football, Thai football ranks No. 1 in Southeast Asia with 9 championships (including U16, U19, and U23 groups). Vietnamese football ranked 3rd with 6 championships, 1 less than Australia. Malaysia, Indonesia, and Myanmar with 4 crowns share the next positions.
In the past 2 years, Indonesian youth football has made a lot of progress. The Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) has invested heavily in youth football combined with naturalizing foreign players.
However, Indonesian youth football has still not been able to surpass Vietnam in terms of achievements. Indonesia won the Southeast Asia U16 Championship, was eliminated from the group stage of the U19 Championship, and won the runner-up position in the latest Southeast Asia U23 Championship.
Meanwhile, Vietnam is more impressive as the reigning runner-up of the U16 Southeast Asia Championship, bronze medalist of the U19 Championship, and champion of the most recent U23 Southeast Asia Championship.
In the continental arena, Indonesia did not qualify for the latest U17 and U23 Asian Championships. While Vietnam fully participated, even reached the quarterfinals of the 2022 Asian U23 Championship.
Comparing like that, we can see that Vietnamese youth football is practically no worse than Indonesia’s. But from success in youth football to success in the national team is a very different story. That’s not a simple process of selection, training, and development.
Indonesian football has made progress in recent times thanks to the naturalization policy – Photo: BOLA
Indonesian football progresses thanks to the naturalization policy
Recently, the Indonesian national team continuously defeated the Vietnamese national team in the 2023 Asian Cup arena, the 2026 World Cup qualifying round in Asia. This comes from many reasons, including the fact that Indonesia has massively naturalized many players.
In the list of 23 players registered to attend the 2024 U23 Asian finals, U23 Indonesia brings to Qatar a force of 13 national players who have just competed in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia. Notable among these are three naturalized players Ivar Jenner (Jong Utrecht, Netherlands), Rafael Struick (ADO Den Haag, Netherlands) and Justin Hubner (Cerezo Osaka, Japan).
On the other hand, Indonesian youth football also shows progress. However, based on achievements, Indonesian youth football cannot surpass Vietnam. The development and achievements of football are often cyclical, with ups and downs in stages. At this time, Vietnamese football is experiencing difficulties from the player force to the change of national team head coach.
It is clear that the performance of Vietnamese football is worse than that of Thailand. However, how to prevent Indonesia from overtaking is something that Vietnamese football must act decisively.
Tags: Indonesian youth football stronger Vietnam
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