Coach Polking directly points out how to help the Vietnam national team reach the World Cup

Coach Mano Polking believes the Vietnam national team can aim for the World Cup in the future, while emphasizing that improving the quality of the V.League is the key to achieving this goal.

During his time working in Vietnam, Coach Polking had the opportunity to closely monitor the development of local football. Before the important match of CAHN Club in the AFC Champions League Elite play-off round, this strategist not only mentioned the team's ambitions in the continental arena but also gave positive evaluations for the Vietnam national team.

Notably, Coach Polking puts faith in the ability of the Vietnam national team to participate in the World Cup in the near future. He shared: “In the next 2-3 World Cups, I hope a Southeast Asian representative like Vietnam will be able to participate in the World Cup. The Vietnam national team has a good squad. Currently, not many Vietnamese players play abroad, but we can still elevate players by improving the quality of the domestic league, including enhancing the quality and quantity of foreign players.”

Coach Polking's comments were made in the context that the World Cup qualification opportunities for Asian teams could continue to expand. Previously, FIFA President Gianni Infantino confirmed FIFA is studying the option of increasing the number of teams for the 2030 World Cup to 64, instead of 48 teams as in the 2026 World Cup.

If this plan is approved, the number of slots allocated to regions, including Asia, will likely also increase. This is seen as a positive signal for developing football nations with ambitions to compete on the world stage, such as Vietnam.

The World Cup has officially expanded from 32 to 48 teams starting from 2026. Further expanding the scale to 64 teams will create more opportunities for many teams that have never participated in the biggest football festival on the planet. For the Vietnam national team, this could be one of the factors that makes the World Cup dream more realistic in the future.

Coach Polking believes that if these factors are improved, the Vietnam national team will have an additional foundation to compete with strong Asian opponents. He added: “I hope the Vietnam national team will do better in the next World Cup. The Vietnamese people love football very much. It seems the whole country is glued to the screen whenever the national team plays. The Vietnam national team's participation in the World Cup would be an extraordinary achievement.”

With the progress in recent years, along with the development of the V.League and the youth teams, the Vietnam national team has a basis to aim for bigger goals. Although the journey to conquer the World Cup still has many challenges, Coach Polking's expectations show that this dream is increasingly being seen as an achievable goal rather than just a distant ambition.