The short answer
A playoff win in India opened Vietnam’s first route to the Women’s World Cup. Follow the Asian Cup campaign, the players behind the decisive goals and the distinction between qualification in 2022 and the finals in 2023.
Two campaigns, different stakes
The qualifying route and World Cup debut
The Asian Cup playoff results secured a berth; the later Group E results determined Vietnam’s progress at the finals.
| Date and opponent | Stage | Vietnam’s result | Consequence |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Jan 2022 · Myanmar | Asian Cup group | Draw 2–2 | Quarter-final place |
| 30 Jan 2022 · China PR | Asian Cup quarter-final | Loss 1–3 | World Cup route continued through playoffs |
| 2 Feb 2022 · Thailand | Asian qualifying playoff | Win 2–0 | Chinese Taipei match still to play |
| 6 Feb 2022 · Chinese Taipei | Asian qualifying playoff | Win 2–1 | First World Cup qualification |
| 22 Jul 2023 · United States | World Cup Group E | Loss 0–3 | First finals appearance |
| 27 Jul 2023 · Portugal | World Cup Group E | Loss 0–2 | Second group defeat |
| 1 Aug 2023 · Netherlands | World Cup Group E | Loss 0–7 | Campaign ended without group advancement |
Chronology
A timeline of the turning points
Group-stage escape
A draw with Myanmar takes Vietnam into the Asian Cup quarter-finals.
Two competitions diverge
Defeat by China PR ends the title challenge, while the World Cup playoff route remains open.
Thailand beaten
Như and Thảo score in the first qualifying-playoff win.
Qualification secured
Kiều’s opener and Bích Thùy’s winner defeat Chinese Taipei.
World Cup debut
Vietnam plays three Group E matches in New Zealand.
When did Vietnam first qualify for the Women’s World Cup?
Vietnam secured its first place at the FIFA Women’s World Cup on 6 February 2022, in India. The team’s global-finals debut followed in 2023, when Australia and New Zealand hosted the tournament. Qualification and participation therefore belong to different years.
Mai Đức Chung led the qualifying side. FIFA’s later tournament preview places the achievement within his long, interrupted association with the women’s national team, beginning in 1997. It was a national-team milestone, rather than a club championship or a qualification by Vietnam’s men.
Why was there still a route after the Asian Cup quarter-final?
The 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup served two purposes: deciding Asia’s continental champion and allocating World Cup places. Reaching the semi-finals qualified Japan, China PR, Korea Republic and the Philippines. A separate three-team playoff offered another direct berth.
Vietnam lost its quarter-final to China PR, 3–1, on 30 January. That ended its Asian Cup title challenge but did not end its World Cup campaign. Vietnam, Thailand and Chinese Taipei entered the round-robin qualifying playoff. The remaining two sides would have to seek qualification through the later inter-confederation playoffs.
The Myanmar draw and Thailand win kept the campaign alive
Before the playoffs, Vietnam had to survive the group stage. On 27 January, Nguyễn Thị Tuyết Dung and Huỳnh Như helped the team recover twice against Myanmar. The 2–2 draw put Vietnam into the quarter-finals as one of the two best third-placed teams.
On 2 February, Như and Thái Thị Thảo scored first-half goals in the 2–0 playoff win over Thailand. That result brought qualification closer but did not settle it. AFC’s report explicitly identified victory over Chinese Taipei in the next game as the remaining requirement.
Who scored in the decisive Chinese Taipei match?
At D. Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, Chương Thị Kiều put Vietnam ahead. Su Hy-Ysuan equalised for Chinese Taipei before Nguyễn Thị Bích Thùy scored the winner. The 2–1 result secured the direct World Cup place.
Như’s earlier playoff goal was important, but Bích Thùy scored the decisive goal in this match. AFC’s contemporary report also records a COVID-19 outbreak before the tournament, an important part of the campaign’s circumstances. It does not establish that every player experienced the same illness or disruption.
Huỳnh Như, the domestic squad and the step onto the world stage
Như connects the qualifying campaign to the existing biography archive: she contributed against Myanmar and Thailand, then appeared with Vietnam at the 2023 finals. Her separate person page follows her domestic career, captaincy and move to Portuguese club Länk Vilaverdense.
FIFA’s July 2023 squad review counted 22 of Vietnam’s 23 players as based in their home country. Như, then with Länk in Portugal, was the exception. This is a dated description of the announced squad, not a claim that the team depended only on one overseas player or that domestic football had ceased to matter.
What happened at the 2023 World Cup?
Vietnam played in Group E, with the United States, Portugal and the Netherlands. Its first match, against the United States on 22 July in Auckland, ended 3–0 to the Americans. Portugal won 2–0 on 27 July, and the Netherlands won 7–0 on 1 August.
Vietnam did not advance from the group and did not score at the finals. Those results describe the debut tournament, not the 2022 qualification matches. Keeping the two campaigns separate preserves both the significance of reaching the World Cup and the limits of the team’s first performance there.
Biography context
Explore Vietnam through connected lives
Connected biographies
The biography behind the qualifying campaign
1991—
Huỳnh Như
Vietnam international forward and 2023 World Cup captainA Vietnamese forward with five dated Golden Ball wins, a two-season Portuguese club spell and captaincy of Vietnam’s first FIFA Women’s World Cup team.Read biographyQuick answers
Common questions
- Did Vietnam first qualify in 2022 or 2023?
- Qualification was secured on 6 February 2022. Vietnam first played at the Women’s World Cup finals in 2023.
- Who scored Vietnam’s decisive qualifying goal?
- Nguyễn Thị Bích Thùy scored the winner against Chinese Taipei, after Chương Thị Kiều’s opener and Su Hy-Ysuan’s equaliser.
- Did Vietnam win the 2022 Women’s Asian Cup?
- No. China PR eliminated Vietnam in the quarter-final. Vietnam subsequently qualified for the World Cup through the separate Asian playoff.
- Which group did Vietnam play in at the 2023 World Cup?
- Group E, alongside the United States, Portugal and the Netherlands. Vietnam lost all three matches and did not advance.
Primary and institutional sources
How this history was checked
AFC’s contemporary reports document the qualification sequence. FIFA’s preview and squad article are dated pre-tournament snapshots; the completed results establish what happened at the finals. The qualifying win is not described as an Asian Cup title, and regional tournaments are not substituted for World Cup results. This article was reviewed on 14 October 2026.
- Asian Football ConfederationMyanmar draw and Vietnam’s quarter-final place, January 2022
- Asian Football ConfederationChina PR–Vietnam quarter-final report, January 2022
- Asian Football ConfederationSemi-final qualifiers and three-team playoff format
- Asian Football ConfederationThailand playoff win and the remaining qualification requirement
- Asian Football ConfederationChinese Taipei playoff win and first qualification
- Asian Football ConfederationMai Đức Chung’s response to the qualification win
- FIFAVietnam’s 2023 tournament preview and coaching background
- FIFAJuly 2023 squad statistics: domestic and overseas club distribution
- FIFA2023 tournament results, including Vietnam’s Group E matches (Spanish)