The announcement comes after the club received a total score of 27.08, trailing Ceres Negros FC of the Philippines, Buriram United FC and Muangthong United FC of Thailand, Johor Darul Ta’zim FC of Malaysia, and Home United FC of Singapore.

In the overall rankings awarded by the AFC for the Asian region as a whole, Hanoi FC were ranked 52nd among 169 Asian football teams.

The Vietnamese representatives are followed by a host of big names including Deagu FC of the Republic of Korea, Yokohama F.Marinos FC, Vissel Kobe FC, and FC Tokyo of Japan, in addition to Brisbane Roar FC and Western Sydney Wanderers FC of Australia.

The high ranking of Hanoi FC comes after their progress to the final round of the inter-regional AFC Cup 2019.

Elsewhere in the list, Vietnamese representatives Binh Duong FC, Thanh Hoa FC, and Nghe An FC are ranked in 87th, 94th, and 103rd positions, respectively.

The AFC club rankings are calculated based on the performance of each side in the two continental club competitions, the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup. The further a team progresses the more points a side will gain.

The total number of points for clubs in the same country will affect their participation in the following season’s competition. For example, if Hanoi FC had beaten April 25 FC in the 2019 season the total number of points for Vietnamese clubs would have been enough to win an automatic place in the AFC Champions League.

Due to the loss of the V-League champions however, Vietnamese teams must compete in qualification rounds for the AFC Champions League, whilst teams from Malaysia and Thailand go directly into the group stage of the tournament. In 2020, only two domestic representatives will participate in the AFC Cup group stages, they are Ho Chi Minh City FC and Quang Ninh Coal FC. VOV