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 was 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—1955) 

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 (1956—1989) 

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 (1956 AFC Asian Cup and 1960 AFC Asian Cup) 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 (Games of the New Emerging Forces) competitions at Indonesia in 1962 and Cambodia in 1966. Both team 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 remained not a member of AFC and FIFA before 1975. Due to South Vietnam was a member of FIFA, the later unified Vietnam team is classified as 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 (1990—2013) 

Vietnamese 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 1974 qualification as South Vietnam. The national side at the time was not successful in World Cup campaigns, failing in both 1994 and 1998 qualifications with only one single 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 semi-finals or eliminated in the group stage.

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 drew with 1998 FIFA World Cup participant Iran 2–2 and topped the group. Vietnam was then eliminated in the semi-finals after a 1–4 defeat to the hand of China.

2002 FIFA World Cup qualification was some few bright of Vietnam during these World Cup campaigns, with the team won three and drew one, both played in Dammam. However, with the team failed to Saudi Arabia, Vietnam didn't qualify for the World Cup. The 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification was also unsuccessful, with Vietnam fell to South Korea and Oman, but managed to create a shock 1–0 win to 2002 FIFA World Cup's fourth-place South Korea in Muscat, which remained 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 failed, falling behind South Korea and Lebanon, and only stayed above Maldives by goal differences.

During that shortcoming era, Vietnam hosted the 2007 AFC Asian Cup along with Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand; despite failure to qualify for previous Asian Cup since 1990s. The team was ranked second lowest only after Malaysia, but in the group stage, Vietnam created shock by defeating the UAE 2–0, drew 1–1 with another Gulf team, Qatar, before lost 1–4 to Japan yet were the only Southeast Asian and host team to reach 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, which they were held in Group B with Thailand, Malaysia and Laos. After losing Thailand 0–2 in the opener, Vietnam defeated Malaysia 3–2 and Laos 4–0. In semi-finals, Vietnam hold the defending champion Singapore by 0–0 in home match before winning 1–0 away. Vietnam met Thailand again in the finals and defeated them 3–2 aggregated, won the away match 2–1 then drew 1–1 at home. This would be the team's first international honour since rejoining global football, and it took 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 (2014—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 2014–16. 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 U-23 side managed to cruise U-23 Iran, a major Asian force, in 2014 Asian Games with an unthinkable 4–1. 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 U-23 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, with the U-22 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.

2017—present: beginning of new dawn 

Park Hang-seo, 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 the performance in the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship; Park Hang-seo was also coach of the U-23 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 (VAR), resulting to a 0–1 score by Ritsu Doan until the final whistle being blown.

Vietnam was grouped in the 2022 World Cup qualification group G with three other Southeast Asian rivals, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, along with United Arab Emirates. Vietnam was not given much of a chance, but the Vietnamese started with a 0–0 away draw over Thailand before defeating Malaysia 1–0 at home and then achieving the first ever Vietnamese victory against Indonesia, in Indonesian soil, in any major competition. 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 FIFA World 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.

Nicknames 
The national team of Vietnam has been known in several nicknames, the most commonly are "Rồng Vàng" (Golden Dragons) 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" (Golden Star warriors) 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" (The Selection).

Kit suppliers

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

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 had gone wild to 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 Olympic team finished second after losing the final.

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

Stadiums 

Vietnamese national team plays mainly in Mỹ Đình National Stadium, though some other venues are also being used.

Training centre 
In the previous past, Vietnamese football team did not have any major football centre and had to practice in sporadic centres, contributed to its lack of successes. However, since 2017, the country 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.

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 
Include the results of  before 1975

1 includes the results of 
2 includes the results of 
3 includes the results of  and

Results and fixtures

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:
[a] Withdrew from squad.
 SUS Player suspended.
 INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury.
 RET Retired from the national team.
 WD Player withdrew from the squad for non-injury related reasons.
 PRE Preliminary squad.

Previous squads 

AFC Asian Cup
 1956 AFC Asian Cup squads
 1960 AFC Asian Cup squads
 2007 AFC Asian Cup squads
 2019 AFC Asian Cup squads

AFF Championship
 1996 AFF Championship squads
 1998 AFF Championship squads
 2000 AFF Championship squads
 2002 AFF Championship squads
 2004 AFF Championship squads
 2007 AFF Championship squads
 2008 AFF Championship squads
 2010 AFF Championship squads
 2012 AFF Championship squads
 2014 AFF Championship squads
 2016 AFF Championship squads
 2018 AFF Championship squads

Coaching staff

Records

List of managers 

Coaches by years since 1991
.

Most capped players

Top goalscorers

Honours 
Include the results of  before 1975

Continental
 Asian Games
 Fourth place (1): 1962
 Quarterfinals (1): 1958
 AFC Asian Cup
 Fourth place (2): 1956, 1960 (both as South Vietnam)
 Quarterfinals (2): 2007, 2019 

Regional
 2016 AYA Bank Cup
 Champion (1): 2016
 VFF Cup
 Runner-up (3): 2004, 2006, 2009
 Third place (1): 2012
 Fourth place (1): 2010
 Merdeka Tournament
 Champion (1): 1966
 King's Cup
 Runner-up (2): 2006, 2019
 Third place (2): 1969, 1971
 AFF Championship
 Champion (2): 2008, 2018
 Runner-up (1): 1998
 Third place (2): 1996, 2002
 Fourth place (1): 2000
 Semi-finalists (4): 2007, 2010, 2014, 2016
 Southeast Asian Games (as national team until 1999, since 2001 only under-23 team participating)
 Champion (1): 1959 (as South Vietnam),
 Runner-up (4): 1967, 1973, 1995, 1999
 Third place (4): 1961, 1965, 1971, 1997

See also

 Vietnam Football Federation
 Vietnam national under-23 football team
 Vietnam national under-22 football team
 Vietnam national under-21 football team
 Vietnam national under-20 football team
 Vietnam national under-17 football team

Notes

References

External links 

  official site 
  from FIFA website 

Category:Asian national association football teams
 
Football