Football Dream seeks to recruit Vietnamese young talents

Hanoi, July 23 (VNA) – The Football Dream is examining in different cities and provinces to recruit talented footballers from Vietnam. The project aims to find out qualified children aged 13-14 who later will be trained by experts from Qatar's Aspire Academy and European giant Barcelona FC. The testing days are July 19-26, with the selection day being August 11-13 in Ho Chi Minh City, where trainers will choose 30 players who proved outstanding during the tests. The Football Dream is a non-profit international programme, taking place in 16 countries around the world this year. Three best young football talents in each country will compete in the world's final round in Qatar. Selected players will receive a three-year training course at Aspire Academy. Previously, several Vietnamese were selected to compete in the final rounds, as two of them, Nguyen Hong Son and Nguyen Thai Sung, received a scholarship. Vietnam dropped six spots to 129th in the July rankings released by the International Federation of Association Football. The Philippines jumped to 128th position, topping the Southeast Asian region rankings, followed by Vietnam and Malaysia at 151. Japan (45th), Iran (49th), and Uzbekistan (52nd) were the top listed teams in Asia, with Vietnam trailing as the 20th highest in the region. Germany, who triumphed earlier this month at the World Cup in Brazil, is now ranked at the top, with second and third place going to Argentina and the Netherlands, respectively.-VNA