1989 V-League
The 1989 Vietnam National A1 League was the 8th season of the National Football Championship in Vietnam, played from 5 March until 28 May 1989.
This season marked a record number of participating teams with 32 teams. This was also the last season of the National A1 League as the highest level football league in Vietnam. The 1989 season would select 18 teams with the highest level to form a new division, the National Elite Football Championship from the 1990 season.. The other 11 teams would continue to compete in the National A1 League and the bottom 3 teams would be relegated to the A2 League. Therefore, this season is also called "split division".
First phase
32 teams are divided over three groups playing a single round robin. The top 7 teams of each group advance to the second phase, and the bottom team of each group would relegate to the 1990 National A2 League. From this season, the draw limit system was removed.Group A
Group B
Group C
Second phase
24 teams are divided over three groups. The three group winners and the best group runners-up advance to the final round. The bottom team of each group would remain at the 1990 National A1 League, while the remaining teams would qualify for the 1990 All-Vietnam National League.Matches that ended in draw after 90 minutes would move to the penalty shoot-outs, with the winning team receiving 2 points, while the losing team gets 1 point.
Sông Lam Nghệ Tĩnh withdrew before the Second phase to compete in an international tournament in Laos, and was replaced by Đồng Tháp in Group 2. While Quảng Nam-Đà Nẵng declared forfeit after one matchday after the team went through a road accident.