Vietnam national football team


The Vietnam national football team represents Vietnam in international football and is controlled by the Vietnam Football Federation, the governing body of football in Vietnam.
Vietnam has a long history of football, as a result of the sport being introduced by the French in the 19th century. However, due to various conflicts that occurred in the country throughout the 20th century, development of Vietnamese football was significantly hampered during these times.
While Vietnam was split into North and South Vietnam, two national teams existed and both were controlled by separate governing bodies. After the two countries unified in 1976, the separate governing bodies were combined and renamed to the Vietnam Football Federation.
Since the 1990s when Vietnam rejoined global world football, the sport soon became part of Vietnamese society and a weapon to fight the negative reputation of the country due to the traumatic Vietnam War and later conflicts. This made the national team become part of Vietnamese nationalism and contributed to passionate support worldwide. Vietnamese supporters are dubbed to be some of the best and most passionate fans, renowned for large celebrations over the team's achievements, regardless if it is a senior or youth side.

History

Early history (1896—1954)

The introduction of football into Vietnam traced its roots in 1896 during the era of colonial French Cochinchina. At the early stage, the sport are only played among French civil servants, merchants and soldiers. The French then encouraged local Vietnamese to played football and several other sports that were introduced to them to divert their interest from politics which resulting the sport being spread to other regions, mostly the northern and central region. On 20 July 1908, the newspaper Southern Luc Tan Van reported the match between two local Vietnamese teams for the first time. A first football guidebook then published in 1925 by a local Vietnamese doctor named Pham Van Tiec to attract the interest among Vietnamese youngsters. By 1928, the Vietnamese had established the Annamite Sports Bureau and in the same year they sent a Vietnamese football team to compete in Singapore. More local football clubs then established in both northern and southern Vietnam although it was not until after the World War II that football clubs in the region started to become more organised. It was the time Vietnam played their first ever international match, against Korea in Saigon which they lost 2–4.

Two Vietnam national teams (1954—1976)

Two national football teams then existed when Vietnam was divided into South Vietnam and North Vietnam. The team from the South participated in the first two AFC Asian Cup finals and finished in fourth place both times. They won the first Southeast Asian Games in 1959 in Thailand. The team also entered qualification for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, beating Thailand 1–0 to qualify the classification matches before losing their group opening matches by 0–4 to Japan and 0–1 to Hong Kong. The team played their last game against Malaysia in 1975 where they lost 0–3. Meanwhile, the team from the North was less active, not being a member of either AFC and FIFA, often playing against other Communist states between 1956 and 1966. They had their first match against China PR where they lost 3–5 under head coach Truong Tan Buu. They participated in the first GANEFO competitions at Indonesia in 1962 and Cambodia in 1966. Both teams ceased to exist when the North and South regions were combined together into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam following the end of the Vietnam War, but North Vietnam did not become a member of AFC and FIFA until 1976. Because South Vietnam was a member of FIFA, the later unified Vietnam team is classified as the successor of South Vietnam by FIFA.
The development of football during this era for both Vietnams was marked with stagnation as the Vietnam War occurred at the same time. The Vietnam War, a war that occurred between two states, had a tremendous impact and delayed the development of football in the country. Because of the war, Vietnam, by then, a major football force in Asia, started losing its reputation as the war ruined the country. Thus, the conflict had greatly reduced Vietnamese football ability and weakened the country seriously. However, the following Cambodian–Vietnamese War and Sino-Vietnamese War, and global sanctions against the country, had depleted the nation's football team and turned Vietnam into one of the weakest teams in the world and Asia overall. For this reason, Vietnamese football can be still considered as new and unknown for the rest of the world, in spite of its long standing history as Vietnam only rejoined global football in 1991.

Post Vietnam War and redevelopment era (1991—2006)

Vietnam's professional football league, known as the All Vietnam Football Championship, was launched in 1980 to redevelop Vietnamese football after a long period of civil war. In 1989, following the Đổi Mới reforms, a new football federation was formed. Vietnamese sports began to return to international events. After three months of preparation, in August 1989, the First Congress of the new football federation took place in Hanoi, declaring the formation of the Vietnam Football Federation. Trịnh Ngọc Chữ, deputy minister of General Department of Sports, was elected as the first president of VFF. The reunified Vietnam national football team then played their first match against the Philippines in 1991 where they had a draw.
Vietnam participated in the country's first ever FIFA World Cup qualification in 1994 World Cup campaign for the first time as an unified nation, having participated in the 1974 qualification as South Vietnam. The national side at the time was not successful in World Cup campaigns, failing in both the 1994 and 1998 qualifications with only one win.
In 1996, Vietnam participated in the first Tiger Cup where they finished in third place and hosted the second Tiger Cup in 1998 where they lost 0–1 to Singapore in the final. From 2000 to 2007, Vietnam continued their quest to win the Southeast Asian trophy, but often ended short by losing in the semi-finals or being eliminated in the group stage. Also around 1996, Vietnam gained international headline for inviting Italian giant Juventus F.C. to play in a friendly match in Hanoi, with Juventus already lifted the recent 1995–96 UEFA Champions League title. The game, which Vietnam lost 1–2, was a watershed moment that boosted the development of football in the country.
Vietnam was the host of the 1999 Dunhill Cup, a friendly tournament for both senior and U-23 players. Since it was categorized as a mingled senior and U-23 competition, some national teams had decided to participate using its senior reserve side. In this competition, Vietnam created a promising performance, including a shock win over then-1994 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 1996 participant Russia 1–0 and drawing with 1998 FIFA World Cup participant Iran 2–2 and topping the group. Vietnam was then eliminated in the semi-finals after a 1–4 defeat to China.
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification had some of Vietnam's few bright moments during these World Cup campaigns, with the team winning three matches and drawing one, both played in Dammam. However, with the team having lost against Saudi Arabia, Vietnam did not qualify for the World Cup. The 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification was also unsuccessful, with Vietnam falling to South Korea and Oman, but managing to create a shock 1–0 win to 2002 FIFA World Cup's fourth-place winner South Korea in Muscat, which remains as one of Vietnam's greatest football feats since unification. The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification had been extremely depressing for Vietnam, with the team once again failing, falling behind South Korea and Lebanon, and only staying above Maldives by goal difference.

The first golden generation, and renaissance of Vietnamese football (2007-2011)

During that shortcoming era, Vietnam hosted the 2007 AFC Asian Cup along with Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand; despite failure to qualify for the Asian Cup since the 1990s. The team was ranked second lowest only after Malaysia, but in the group stage, Vietnam created shock by defeating the UAE 2–0, drawing 1–1 with another Gulf team, Qatar, before losing 1–4 to Japan. Vietnam were the only Southeast Asian and host team to reach the quarter-finals, where they lost to eventual champions Iraq 0–2. The amazing journey of Vietnam began the first renaissance of Vietnamese football.
Vietnam won the first AFF Championship title in 2008, in which they were held in Group B with Thailand, Malaysia and Laos. After losing to Thailand 0–2 in the opener, Vietnam defeated Malaysia 3–2 and Laos 4–0. In the semi-finals, Vietnam held the defending champion Singapore to 0–0 in the home match before winning 1–0 away. Vietnam met Thailand again in the finals and defeated them 3–2 by aggregate, winning the away match 2–1 then drawing 1–1 at home. This would be the team's first international honour since rejoining global football, and it would take 10 years until the team repeated this feat.
Vietnam almost managed a successful 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification when Vietnam performed well against Syria and Lebanon, as well as against China; but the shortcoming on scoring goals once again proved to be instrumental on denying Vietnam's qualification to 2011 AFC Asian Cup, as the team finished third with only a single 3–1 home win over Lebanon and two draws away to both Levant opponents Syria and Lebanon.

Decline and rebuilding (2012—2016)

Vietnam participated in 2010, 2014 World Cup qualifiers and 2011, 2015 Asian Cup qualifiers, but were unsuccessful, as the team's shortcoming contributed to its early elimination.
The national team of Vietnam started to witness significant changes under the tenure of Toshiya Miura, who took charge of Vietnam from 2014 to 2016. The Japanese coach was accredited for rebuilding the national team of Vietnam after the failed 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification, and had a significant impact on the improvement of the team's performances. One of the most renowned achievement under Miura's era was with the youth team, when the Olympic side managed to cruise pass Olympic Iran, a major Asian force, at the 2014 Asian Games with an unthinkable 4–1 victory. Many of these young players nurtured by coach Miura would be brought to senior side, where the team managed a fine performance in 2014 AFF Championship, but Vietnam failed to progress beyond the semi-finals after suffering a shock 2–4 defeat to Malaysia right at home, in spite of winning 2–1 away before. Vietnamese police had sought to investigate this match, but found no evidence of rigged bribery or corruption as also stated in the findings of Swiss-based international supplier betting services Sportradar.
Miura led Vietnam in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers when Vietnam was grouped together with Thailand, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei and Iraq; Indonesia later withdrew. Vietnam managed a fine performance, drawing Iraq 1–1 at home. However, two disappointing defeats to Thailand away 0–1 and humiliating 0–3 home loss to the same opponent had put the team under heavy criticism. Toshiya Miura, despite improvement, was sacked by the VFF after the Olympic side's failure to qualify for 2016 Rio Olympics.
Hope was put into new coach, Nguyễn Hữu Thắng, some of the first fine Vietnamese managers during the era. Under Thắng, Vietnam once again progressed to the semi-finals of 2016 AFF Championship, but the team had to bow down to Indonesia in another thrilling semi-finals, being held 2–2 at home and previously lost 1–2 away to the same rival. The team's disappointment somehow relieved a little, as the Golden Dragons participated in 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification for finishing third in their World Cup qualification group. The Vietnamese side managed two draws in their opening run against Afghanistan in Tajikistan and a goalless draw to Jordan in Ho Chi Minh City. However, the Olympic side was shockingly eliminated in the group stage of 2017 SEA Games, coach Nguyễn Hữu Thắng was relieved from duty, and the team faced a tremendous crisis of confidence as fans have lost their will to support the team. Interim coach Mai Đức Chung was appointed to help Vietnam in two crucial Asian Cup qualification match against neighbour Cambodia, in which coach Chung was able to revive some of the team's lost spirit, beating Cambodia 2–1 away and a thrashing 5–0 win at home. These wins allowed Vietnam to join top two for final tickets.

The New Golden Generation (2017—present): a new hope

, former assistant of Guus Hiddink during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, was appointed as new coach of Vietnam in 2017 after an attempt to negotiate with Takashi Sekizuka was unsuccessful; previously the VFF also tried contact with American manager Steve Sampson with no avail. Upon his arrival to Vietnam, Park Hang-seo was greeted with skepticism and jeers from Vietnamese.
Park's first match as coach of Vietnam was in the same 2019 Asian Cup qualification, where Vietnam held Afghanistan at home in a 0–0 draw, thus allowed Vietnam to qualify for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, their first ever Asian Cup since 2007. Park himself, though, was criticized. However, the mood changed after Vietnam’s performance in the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship and 2018 Asian Games. Park Hang-seo was also coach of the U-23 and Olympic team. With the same U-23 players, he formed the squad of Vietnamese senior in a meaningless 1–1 draw to Jordan in 2019 Asian Cup qualification, which both teams qualified together. Also with these young players, the 2018 AFF Championship became Vietnam's second AFF Championship title. In Group A, Vietnam managed 3 victories against Laos, Malaysia, Cambodia and a draw with Myanmar. In the semi-finals, they defeated the Philippines twice, and in the finals defeated Malaysia 3–2 aggregated, drawing 2–2 away and winning 1–0 home.
But only the 2019 AFC Asian Cup that Vietnam truly began to gain international recognition. With entire of squad made up with the successful U-23 players, the youngest squad in the tournament, Vietnam beat Yemen in their final group matches to become the last best-fourth place team to qualify for the round of sixteen. Then, they surprised everyone by defeating favored Jordan which had previously defeated defending champions Australia and earlier played a friendly match against 2018 FIFA World Cup runners-up Croatia, winning 4–2 in penalty shoot-out. The win sent million of Vietnamese into the street for celebrations. In the quarter-finals, Vietnam met Japan but failed to continue the success after their opponent being awarded a penalty kick which being decided through the video assistant referee, resulting to a 0–1 score by Ritsu Doan until the final whistle being blown.
Vietnam was grouped in the Joint 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup qualification group G with three other Southeast Asian rivals, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, along with United Arab Emirates. The Vietnamese started with a 0–0 away draw over Thailand before defeating Malaysia 1–0 at home and then achieving a 3–1 win against Indonesia. In November, Vietnam faced up the United Arab Emirates at home soil with attempts to break 12-year winless streak to the opponent. In spite of facing struggle in early minutes, a following red card to the UAE gave the Vietnamese an advantage, eventually managed to beat the Emirates 1–0. Then, Vietnam moved to a thrilling encounter against neighbor and fellow powerhouse Thailand at home, where both teams played out in another goalless draw, including a crucial Akinfeev-penalty save by Đặng Văn Lâm and two disallowed goals of Vietnamese side, to foster Vietnam's no.1 position in the Joint FIFA World Cup/Asian Cup qualification group G.

Team image

Vietnam's current kit sponsor is Grand Sport. The contract started in January 2015 which will end by the end of December 2019 but extended until 2023. Vietnam was also previously sponsored by Adidas, Li-Ning and Nike. The tradition home colour for the Vietnamese team is all red with yellow trim and the away colour is all white with red trim ever since they started the contract with Nike. With Adidas, it was just red and white. Occasionally, the team wore blue and yellow jerseys.

Kit suppliers

Sponsorship

Primary sponsors include: Honda Vietnam, Yanmar, Grand Sport, Suzuki Vietnam, Sony Vietnam, Z.com, VPMilk, Vina Acecook, Coca-Cola, Vinamilk, Kao Vietnam and TNI Corporation.

Logo

Unlike many national teams in the world, Vietnam is one of the few football teams to not feature their federation logo, but rather the national flag. The few other AFC members to not feature the logo includes Syria, North Korea, Singapore and Iraq; and is the only Southeast Asian team alongside Singapore to not feature the logo. Despite the country unveiling a logo for the national football team in 2017, the logo has yet to be incorporated on to the national jersey due to the majority of negative responses from fans, though it has been changing more toward a positive opinion.

Nicknames

The national team of Vietnam has been known by several nicknames, the most commonly are "Rồng Vàng" which is influenced from the history of Vietnam including the legend of Lạc Long Quân, the dragon King in Vietnamese folk story who gave the Vietnamese identity for his people, and also appeared in former emblems of Vietnamese dynasty as well as South Vietnam. Another nickname is the "Những chiến binh sao Vàng" which is derived from the national flag of Vietnam. The local media and people in Vietnam also refer the national team as simply as "Tuyển".

Supporters

There are two major supporters for the national team, namely Vietnam Football Supporters or VFS which was founded in 2014 and Vietnam Golden Stars or VGS which was founded in 2017.
When the national team won big matches, the streets are often overwhelmed by large Vietnamese crowds, demonstrating nationalist chants, singing Vietnamese nationalist songs. Vietnamese passionate supporters have been witnessed during 2007 AFC Asian Cup when the team defeated the UAE 2–0 and later, the lone Southeast Asian side to sneak into the quarter-finals. During the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, Vietnamese fans were euphoric in celebration after beating Jordan in the round of sixteen.
Even in smaller tournaments, Vietnamese fans are also noted for large celebration, such as when Vietnam won the 2008 AFF Championship and 2018 AFF Championship, and recently 2018 AFC U-23 Championship which their U-23 team finished second after losing the final.

Facilities

The Vietnamese national team mainly plays at Mỹ Đình National Stadium, although other venues are also used.
In the past, Vietnam did not have any specific training centre for the national team, which forced them to practice sporadically at different facilities, contributing to their lack of success. However, since 2017, the country's first ever football training centre, known as PVF Training Centre was established in Hưng Yên to improve the national team's performance. Former Manchester United star and current Wales coach, Ryan Giggs was appointed as the first director of the centre alongside Paul Scholes.

Rivalries

Thailand

is often considered as Vietnam's traditional and biggest rival. The matches between these two teams are always likened to the "El Classico" of Southeast Asian football and are followed with much interest in both countries. Vietnam as South Vietnam first faced Thailand at the 1959 Southeast Asian Games and won the 2 matches, in the group stage and the final. Despite currently having the better overall record compared with Thailand with 22 wins, 6 draws and 19 losses after 47 matches, Vietnam has generally poor results against Thailand since its reintegration into international football in 1991. After the match between two teams in November 2019 in the second round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, Vietnam has faced Thailand in 24 matches at the national team level since 1991, the overall results being 3 wins, 6 draws and 15 losses. Despite this, Vietnam, since reintegration to world's football, is renowned for its performance that punching above the weight, while Thailand has struggled harder to do the same.
Vietnam's most memorable win against Thailand was in the final of the 2008 AFF Championship, when a 2–1 win in the first leg in Bangkok set them up for their first ever title, which they secured after a 1–1 draw in Hanoi.

Indonesia

Vietnam has also developed a rivalry with Indonesia. They have faced each other in 37 matches, with Vietnam having the poorer record with 11 wins, 10 draws and 16 losses. During the 20-year period from 1999 to 2019, Vietnam only drew and lost against Indonesia in official tournaments. This series of winless matches began after the 1–0 win over Indonesia in 1999 in the semi-finals of the 1999 SEA Games, and lasted 12 matches, with 7 draws and 5 losses, and finally ended when Vietnam won 3–1 against Indonesia in October 2019 in the second round of the 2022 World Cup qualification in Indonesia, also the first-ever Vietnamese victory against Indonesia in the Indonesian territory at any football competitions and friendlies. During this period, Vietnam only won against Indonesia 3–2 in a friendly match in 2016.

Singapore

While Singapore was still a force in the ASEAN football until 2012, this team was also a rival of Vietnam. They have faced each other in 39 matches, with Vietnam dominating with 21 wins, 13 draws and 5 losses. Since just rejoining with international football in 1991, Vietnam experienced, in the period from 1993 to 1998, poorer head-to-head record against Singapore; especially the failure in the 1998 AFF Championship final. However, since 1998, Vietnam has been maintaining a series of unbeaten matches against Singapore until now. It is worth noting that Vietnam's winning matches in this period against Singapore have never exceeded 1 goal and there were 6 out of the 12 matches that had drawn results, although Vietnam still won in the remaining 6 matches.

Malaysia

As South Vietnam, the Vietnamese side had a poorer performance, with only 3 wins, 3 draws and 7 losses, during that time the Malaysians posed as a formidable side in Asia. Since reintegration, however, Vietnam has overwhelmed in the head-to-head record against Malaysia with 12 wins, 3 draws and only 5 losses in 20 games since 1991. "Golden Dragon" has also been maintaining the series of unbeaten match against Malaysia since 2014.

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

AFC Asian Cup

Vietnam holds a spectacular distinction in the competition by having tendency of facing future finalists of the AFC Asian Cup, having implemented so in all four editions, with South Korea and Iraq emerged winners after facing Vietnam, and Japan finished runners-up.

Asian Games

Since 2002, the Asian Games Football tournament uses the Olympic team. See: Vietnam national Olympic football team

AFF Championship

Southeast Asian Games

Since 2001, the SEA games football competition uses the Olympic team. See: Vietnam national Olympic football team

Vietnam Football Federation Cup

All-time head-to-head record

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2019

2020

Players

Current squad

The following 23 players were called up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against United Arab Emirates on 14 November 2019 and against Thailand on 19 November 2019

Caps and goals are as of 19 November 2019 after the match against Thailand.
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Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Vietnam squad within the last 12 months.
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Notes:
;AFC Asian Cup:
;AFF Championship:

Records

List of managers

Coaches by years since 1991
Image Name Nationality From To Win% Honours
Park Hang-seo11 10 2017Present
1 AFF Championship-------
Mai Đức Chung 27 8 201711 10 2017
-------
Nguyễn Hữu Thắng3 3 201627 8 2017
-------
Toshiya Miura8 5 201428 1 2016
-------
Hoàng Văn Phúc16 5 20134 4 2014
-------
Nguyễn Văn Sỹ 1 1 201316 5 2013
-------
Phan Thanh Hùng1 9 201231 12 2012
-------
Mai Đức Chung 21 2 201231 8 2012
-------
Falko Götz1 6 20116 1 2012
-------
Henrique Calisto1 3 2011
1 AFF Championship-------
Alfred Riedl
-------
Trần Văn Khánh 12 12 2004
-------
Edson Tavares22 3 200412 12 2004
-------
Nguyễn Thành Vinh
-------
Alfred Riedl
-------
Henrique Calisto
-------
Dido25 9 2001
-------
Alfred Riedl
-------
Colin Murphy
-------
Lê Đình Chính
-------
Trần Duy Long
-------
Karl-Heinz Weigang
-------
Edson Tavares
-------
Trần Duy Long
-------
Trần Bình Sự
-------
Nguyễn Sỹ Hiển
-------
Vũ Văn Tư
-------

Most capped players

Top goalscorers

Honours

Include the results of before 1975
Continental
Regional