The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has confirmed the Asian entries for the qualifying rounds of the 2012 London Olympics football tournament including Vietnam's men's and women's teams.
The men will fight it out against 33 others for one of the three spots available to play in London in four years time while 16 teams will be vying for one of two berths in the women's competition.
According to the AFC, the draw and competition schedule will be announced soon. The qualifiers are expected to be concluded by the end of 2011.
Old enemies Thailand and Vietnam are the only teams from Southeast Asia to register for the qualifiers.
Thailand 's men have dominated the region in recent years while Vietnam 's women have held the upper hand.
The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) said they will draw up detailed training plans for the two teams following the results of the draws.
At the qualifying round for the Beijing Olympics two years ago, the women's team under Chinese coach Chen Yun Fat made the second round of qualifiers. The men did better being the only team from Southeast Asia to reach the final qualifying round where they lost to Japan . They were coached by Austrian Alfred Riedl.
The success of both teams has made the VFF confident that with good support, they could cause a shock this time around.
The governing body is setting up national coaching programmes and plans to send teams to train overseas.
In other news, the world football governing body (FIFA) on June 1 announced that the qualifying round for the 2014 World Cup will not take place in October as originally planned. It said the date is yet to be decided but it would not be before November next year.
As a result, Vietnam 's competition calendar will be loosened as they are preparing for the coming 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou , China this November and the VFF Cup later this year./.
The men will fight it out against 33 others for one of the three spots available to play in London in four years time while 16 teams will be vying for one of two berths in the women's competition.
According to the AFC, the draw and competition schedule will be announced soon. The qualifiers are expected to be concluded by the end of 2011.
Old enemies Thailand and Vietnam are the only teams from Southeast Asia to register for the qualifiers.
Thailand 's men have dominated the region in recent years while Vietnam 's women have held the upper hand.
The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) said they will draw up detailed training plans for the two teams following the results of the draws.
At the qualifying round for the Beijing Olympics two years ago, the women's team under Chinese coach Chen Yun Fat made the second round of qualifiers. The men did better being the only team from Southeast Asia to reach the final qualifying round where they lost to Japan . They were coached by Austrian Alfred Riedl.
The success of both teams has made the VFF confident that with good support, they could cause a shock this time around.
The governing body is setting up national coaching programmes and plans to send teams to train overseas.
In other news, the world football governing body (FIFA) on June 1 announced that the qualifying round for the 2014 World Cup will not take place in October as originally planned. It said the date is yet to be decided but it would not be before November next year.
As a result, Vietnam 's competition calendar will be loosened as they are preparing for the coming 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou , China this November and the VFF Cup later this year./.
