Football in Vietnam


Association football in Vietnam is run by the Vietnam Football Federation. The federation administers the Vietnamese Men's and Women's national football teams. It is responsible for the national football leagues, including the V. League 1, which is a top tier league. Association football is the most popular sport in Vietnam. According to a Nielsen survey, approximately 75% of the people in Vietnam are football fans.
Football as we know it today, was reported to have come into Vietnam in 1896 with French influence due to colonization. It was first introduced in the then colony of Cochinchina modern day Southern Vietnam, and then spread to the central and northern parts.
When Vietnam was divided into North Vietnam and South Vietnam, two national teams existed. The North Vietnamese played almost exclusively against other Communist countries between 1956 and 1966, while the South Vietnamese team took part in the first two AFC Asian Cup finals, finishing fourth both times.

History

Until 1954

Cochinchina

Football was introduced to Saigon by French civil servants, merchants and soldiers. Some locals also adopted the game at the time. A club called Cercle Sportif Saigonnais was founded. Games were played at the city park, called Jardin de la Ville.
In 1905, a British warship named after King Alfred visited Saigon and its football team had a friendly match against a local team composed of Vietnamese and French players. This is considered the first international football match in Vietnam.
E. Breton, a member of France's L'Union des Sociétés Français des Sports Athlétiques brought football rules into Vietnam in 1906. As a chairman of the Cercle Sportif Saigonnais, he reorganized the club similar to football clubs in France. Other clubs, such as Infanterie, Saigon Sport, Athletic Club, Stade Militaire and Tabert Club, were founded around that time. Local cups were soon held afterwards. The Cercle Sportif Saigonnais was the most successful team, winning in 1907, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, and in 1916.
Some Vietnamese locals learned the game's rules and established their own teams. The first two Vietnamese teams founded in 1907 were Gia Định Sport, run by Ba Vẻ, and Phú Khai and Ngôi Sao Xanh, run by Nguyễn Đình Trị. These two teams merged to form Étoile de Giadinh. Prior to 1920, it had defeated all other teams, including the Cercle Sportif Saigonnais, and became the champion.
Other teams of the time include: Victoria Sportive, Commerce Sport, Jean Compte, Sport Cholonaise, Khánh Hội Sport, Tân Định Sport, Gò Vấp, Hiệp Hòa, Chợ Quán, Phú Nhuận, Đồng Nai, and Enfants de Troupe; in other provinces: Thủ Dầu Một, Cần Thơ, Sóc Trăng, Sa Đéc, Gò Công, Châu Đốc, Mỹ Tho. New grounds were also developed, namely Citadelle, Renault, Fourière, Mayer, and Marine.
Football fans and some leaders then managed to form the Department of Football. Nguyễn Đình Trị was elected as head of board of directors and the Department itself developed its own field. At that time, there was already a French Department of Football. The French and Vietnamese departments had no cooperation, but some matches were played between sides representing each department, for instance in the Cochinchina Championship. In a match between Cercle Sportif Saigonnais and Étoile de Gia Định in 1925, Paul Thi of Étoile was dismissed by a French referee. This led to his everlasting suspension and further conflicts between the two departments. The Championship was then delayed for many years until it was once again held in 1932, with six Vietnamese and three French teams taking part.
Between 1925 and 1935, Étoile de Giadinh were known for many famous players, e.g. Sách, Thơm, Nhiều, Quý, Tịnh, Xường, Trung, Thi, Vi, Mùi. About 29 cups were held, with Étoile winning 8 of them.
The first women's football team appeared in Vĩnh Long in 1932, called Cái Vồn. Several years later, another team called "Rạch Giá" was founded. In 1933, Cái Vồn had a match with men's Paul Bert team at Mayer Stadium. The match ended in a two-all draw and became historic in Vietnamese football history.

Tonkinchina and the Central Zone

Football came to the North of Vietnam in about 1906-1907. Local press reported on matches played by Legion Đáp Cầu and Olympique Hải Phòng in 1909. Olympique won the first match 2–1, whereas the second match was won 8-1 by Legion. In February 1912, Hanoi Football club was founded. The team was composed of Vietnamese and French players.

Vietnam pre-autonomy era

Under French colonial rule, the French Indochina Football Federation hosted a few matches against other national teams, fielding a selection composed mainly of players from Saigon or the French Cochinchina football league. Notably, they faced the China in 1936 and 1948. In April 1947, the French Indochina Football Federation selection team went for a tour in British Hong Kong, and played against the British Hong Kong national team.
Two months before signing independence accords, the earliest recognized international game of Vietnam was on 16 January 1949, in a 3-3 draw against South Korea in Saigon. Vietnam later became a member of FIFA in 1952 and the AFC in 1954.

1954-1976 period

Vietnam gained its independence from France in 1949, during the First Indochina War. After the war, the Geneva Accord was signed on 21 July 1954, dividing the North and South of Vietnam. As a result, Vietnam soon had different football national teams, co-existing during the Vietnam War. Vietnam became a member of FIFA in 1952 and the AFC in 1954.

North Vietnam

In North Vietnam, Thể Công team of the People's Army was established on 23 September 1954. The national football team gained notable achievements at some regional events, such as the Ganefo and the Asian Ganefo. The national league was called the North Vietnam V-League.

South Vietnam

By the late 1950s, South Vietnam national football team had become one of the four strongest teams in Asia, as they advanced into the final round of the 1960 AFC Asian Cup together with South Korea, Israel and the Republic of China. The team also won the 10th Merdeka Cup in Malaysia, 1966. It was one of strongest teams in Southeast Asia.
Clubs AJS, Cảnh sát, Tổng Tham Mưu and Quan Thuế dominated the South's football until 1975. The national league was called the South Vietnam V-League.

Since 1976

Vietnam was reunited on 2 July 1976 and returned to international football in 1991, when they participated in the 1991 Southeast Asian Games. They drew 2–2 against the Philippines, in the first ever match played by a united Vietnam. During the 1990s-2000s, Vietnam had limited international success, mostly due to a lack of investments. Vietnamese football also suffered several corruption scandals, including the 2005 Vietnamese football match-fixing scandal.
Despite this, Vietnam made some notable performances, at the AFC Asian Cup when Vietnam shocked international football by advancing to the quarter-finals. Their 2–0 victory against the UAE was especially remarkable. The following year, Vietnam won the 2008 AFF Championship, marking a successful period for Vietnamese football, the “first golden generation” and renaissance of Vietnamese football.
Vietnamese football suffered heavy decline in 2009-2016, where they would fail to qualify for 3 Asian cups, and lose the next 4 AFF Suzuki Cups. They also could not qualify for the FIFA World Cup. Meanwhile, the Olympic team did not do well in the next few Asian Games and Southeast Asian Games.
Following the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup, Vietnam would start to have tremendous success, after hiring Park Hang-Seo as coach. In 2018, the Vietnam national under-23 football team recorded another remarkable achievement during the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship, winning the silver medal after losing to Uzbekistan in the final, thus becoming the first Southeast Asian team to qualify for the final of an AFC tournament since 1998 when the Thailand U17 won the 1998 AFC U-17 Championship. Later that year, the Olympic team, consisting largely of players who had competed at the U-23 Championship in January, won the fourth place of the 2018 Asian Games, losing 1-3 to South Korea in the semi-final and the UAE on penalty shoot-out in the bronze medal match.
With most of these young players, Vietnam created a fever in 2019 AFC Asian Cup, in which the national team made it to the quarter-finals where they were defeated by eventual runners-up Japan with the score 0–1. Then, in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, Vietnam won its first gold medal in men's football since 1959.
On 6 February 2022, the Vietnam women's national football team qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time.
In the 2021 Southeast Asian Games, as hosts, both the men's and women's football team successfully defended their gold medal title in front of home fans.

Football culture in Vietnam

National identity

Football is an important part of the national identity in Vietnam. Although having a long history, modern Vietnamese football was developed very late than the rest, which only established at 1990s after the end of Sino-Vietnamese War and international isolation. Since 1990s, football has become extremely important for the society in Vietnam, regardless the rich or the poor. Despite ups and downs, football still plays a role on the rise of Vietnamese national identity, and often ties with its successes. Vietnam has some of the most passionate supporters in the world, often attend in large number anytime Vietnam plays in a major tournament. This has been witnessed in 2019 AFC Asian Cup, which its fans cooked traditional Vietnamese foods and even smuggled foods to the hotel to support its players.

Linking with nationalist sentiment

Vietnamese take pride on football heavily and in Vietnam, football is a God sport for the Vietnamese population in majority. When the national team won big matches, the streets are often overwhelmed by large Vietnamese crowds, demonstrating nationalist chants, singing Vietnamese nationalist songs.
According to the Bleacher Report, after the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship, they were totally astonished and shocked with the massive celebration of Vietnamese people.

Women's football

The emergence of women's football in Vietnam was marked by the establishment of the Cai-Von Women's Football Team in 1932, the first women's football team in Vietnam and Asia. Phan Khắc Sửu, an agricultural engineer, with the approval of the South Vietnam government and the Football General Bureau, came up with the idea of forming a women's team and gathered 30 young women to join the team, most of whom came from farming. At that time, it was extremely difficult to mobilize women to participate in football due to the constraints of feudal morality. The outstanding names of the Cai-Von team include Mười Kén, Út Thôi, Hai Tỉnh, Ba Triệu, Út Lẹo..., of which the most outstanding is the French striker Marguerite, who was later elected captain.
In the early days, the Cai-Von Women's Football Team often played against men's teams due to the lack of female opponents. The team's debut match against a men's team in Mỹ Thuận village attracted thousands of spectators; the football field was packed to capacity. After the match, the district chief of Trà Ôn came down to the field to present the team with 24 sets of jerseys and 2,000 Indochinese piasters to help the team develop further. Since then, the team has been invited to play in almost all the provinces in the Mekong Delta and sometimes up to Saigon, where men's football teams challenge; The number of supporters for the team has also increased over time.
Following the success of the first team, another women's team was founded in Cần Thơ, called the Xóm Chài team. July 2, 1933 marked the first time a match was played between the Cai-Von and Xóm Chài women's football teams. On July 30, 1933, the Cai-Von women's team tied 2-2 with the Paul Bert men's team at Mayer Stadium, which was considered a feat. After that, the female players began to start families, and due to the lack of a successor, the team officially disbanded in 1938. At the same time as the Cai-Von women's team, there were also the Bà Trưng team in Rạch Giá - Long Xuyên and then the Huỳnh Ký and Thủ Dầu Một teams.
After a long period of stagnation, women's football in Vietnam was revived in the 1980s, first in Ho Chi Minh City. Nguyen Quoc Hung, then the chairman of Lam Son Football Club, founded the women's football team of District 5. He later became the head of the district's Department of Physical Education and Sports. In the early 1990s, the women's football team of District 1 was founded by Tran Thanh Ngu, the head of the District 1 Department of Physical Education and Sports; Tao Dan Stadium became the team's home ground. After the dissolution of the District 5 women's football team, the key players of that team joined Tran Thanh Ngu's women's team in District 1.
At the same time in the North, Hoang Vinh Giang, the then Director of the Hanoi Department of Physical Education and Sports, also invested in women's football in the capital. In 1992, the first generation of women's football players in Hanoi were selected to form a team called Hoa Hoc Tro. In 1991, the Than Cua Ong team was formed in Quang Ninh under the leadership of former star Nguyen Dinh Hung B. In fact, the women's football movement in Quang Ninh was so strong that most coal mines in the province had women's teams that competed against each other and were all founded at the same time as the District 1 team. In May 1994, on the sidelines of the 40th anniversary bicycle race commemorating the victory of Dien Bien Phu, a demonstration tournament between the three women's football teams of Hoa Hoc Tro, Than Cua Ong and District 1 was organized and received enthusiastic support from fans in the Northwest. This model was later applied to the "Back to the Roots" bicycle race in 1995.
In 1997, the Vietnam women's national football team was founded and immediately won the championship in the pre-SEA Games tournament in Malaysia. At the 19th SEA Games, the Vietnam women's team under the leadership of head coach Tran Thanh Ngu won the bronze medal. Since 2001, the women's team has won the SEA Games gold medal eight times, with the most recent being at the 32nd SEA Games.
The first Vietnamese Women's Football Championship was held in 1998 with 14 teams competing in the preliminary round to select 7 teams for the final round, which was held in Hanoi and Ha Tay.

Competitions

FIFA World Cup

Vietnam had never qualified for any final round of FIFA World Cup tournaments.

AFC Asian Cup

Vietnam, as South Vietnam, finished in 4th place in both the 1956 and 1960 editions. However, there were only 4 teams in the final round of the tournament.
Since the return of Vietnam to international stage at 1991, Vietnam enjoyed a smaller level of success, but it has been noted for notable achievements during 2007 AFC Asian Cup as host, when Vietnam was the only host team to qualify to quarterfinals before losing to eventual winner Iraq. This also re-occurred in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup where Vietnam made the quarterfinals but lost to eventual runners up Japan.

Teams

Men

Women

Domestic leagues

Men

Correct for 2023/24 season.
LevelDivision
IV.League 1
14 clubs
↓↑ 1 club
IIV.League 2
11 clubs
↓↑ 1 club
IIINational Second Division
14 clubs
↓↑ 1 clubs
IIINational Third Division
10 clubs

At the start of the season, V.League 2 had 12 clubs, however, Binh Thuan FC withdraw before the start of the season.

Other leagues for men include:

Women

Other leagues for women include:
  • Vietnamese National Women's U-19 Football Championship
  • Vietnamese National Women's U-16 Football Championship
  • Vietnamese Women's Futsal Championship

Domestic cups

International tournaments

Asian eligibility

Uniquely, Vietnam has two chances to acquire Asian gold, as the V-League winner is eligible for AFC Champions League Two group stage and runner-up and third-place qualified for ASEAN Club Championship group stage from V.League 1 while the Vietnamese Cup winner goes to the qualifying play-offs of AFC Champions League Two.

Stadiums in Vietnam by capacity

TeamLocationStadiumCapacity
VietnamHanoiMỹ Đình National Stadium
Can Tho FCCần ThơCần Thơ Stadium
Hong Linh Ha TinhHa TinhHa Tinh
Hanoi FC, ViettelHanoiHang Day
Công An Nhân DânNinh BìnhNinh Binh
SHB DanangDanangHoa Xuan
Long AnTân AnLong An
Song Lam Nghe AnNghe AnVinh
Khánh HòaNha Trang18/9
Ho Chi Minh City FC, Saigon FCHo Chi Minh CityThong Nhat
HuếHuếTự Do
Topenland Binh DinhBinh DinhQuy Nhon
Quảng NamTam KỳTam Kỳ
Becamex Binh DuongBinh DuongGo Dau
Hoang Anh Gia LaiGia LaiPleiku
Dong A Thanh HoaThanh HoaThanh Hoa
Triệu MinhBến TreBến Tre
Binh Thuan FCBình ThuậnPhan Thiet

Attendances

The average attendance per top-flight football league season and the club with the highest average attendance:
SeasonLeague averageBest clubBest club average
2024-255,192Nam Định11,038
2023-245,890Nam Định13,230

Sources: League pages on Wikipedia