With the kick-off of the 2021 Vietnamese football season on the horizon, teams all over Vietnam are working hard in preparing for the new season. The 2021 Vietnamese Super Cup will, as usual, become the traditional curtain raiser for the new season, with 2020 V.League 1 champions Viettel FC taking on 2020 Vietnamese National Cup winners Hanoi FC in the latest edition of the Capital Derby. The new V.League 1 season will kick-off on January 16th and with only around a month to finish preparations, many teams are starting to take shape.
2020 3rd placers Sai Gon FC are the latest team to have dove into the market in recent times, having bagged 11 players to replace the 19 players that they’ve recently released. The men in pink have managed to land two naturalized players from Duoc Nam Ha Nam Dinh, with the V.League’s 2nd all-time top scorer Do Merlo and Brazilian-born defender Nguyen Trung Dai Loc making the switch from the Thien Truong outfit. However, Sai Gon have managed to turn a number of heads on December 4th with the announcement that they have signed 39-year old former Japan international Daisuke Matsui from J.League 1 side Yokohama FC.
Matsui, who has experience in Europe playing for the likes of Poland’s Lechia Gdansk, France’s Saint-Etienne, and Bulgaria’s Slavia Sofia, is projected to assume the role of an experienced figure within Sai Gon’s midfield engine. Joining Sai Gon once his contract with Yokohama FC runs out, Matsui revealed in his online unveiling that he took some time to made his decision once the offer to join Sai Gon came to him. In the end, the men in pink’s participation in the 2021 AFC Cup and their partnership with fellow J1 side FC Tokyo managed to entice Matsui into signing for them.
“I’m very excited and thrilled to join Sai Gon,” Matsui said in his unveiling, as quoted from VNExpress, “It is a brand new challenge for me. I used to play for many clubs around the world, but Sai Gon and Vietnam as a whole would provide me with new experiences and because of that I’ve decided to accept this challenge.”
HCMC, HAGL, Thanh Hoa Welcome New Head Coaches
While Sai Gon have spent their pre-season doing an overhaul of their squad, their city rivals Ho Chi Minh City FC have finally announced their new head coach earlier this month. Replacing the outgoing Jung Hae-seong is former True Bangkok United head coach Alexandre Polking, better known as Mano. Despite failing to win any major silverware with the Bangkok Angels, Mano has proven himself to be a valuable asset for Bangkok United, guiding them through thick and thin since 2014. His free-flowing attacking style has won plaudits in Thailand and the Ho Chi Minh City management are hoping that he could replicate that style for the Red Battleship in the 2021 season as they seek to win their first league title since the 2001/02 season.
Another club that has welcomed a new head coach is Hoang Anh Gia Lai, who managed to convince club legend Kiatisuk Senamuang to end his sabbatical and return to the Pleiku Stadium in late November. The 2021 season will be Coach Zico’s third stint as HAGL head coach, having taken charge of the team in 2006 and 2010. The former Thailand international’s last job was an unsuccessful stint at Port FC in the Thai League 1 all the way back in 2017, however he was best remembered for his tenure with the Thailand national team.
Together with Changsuek, Zico won two AFF Cups, a King’s Cup, a gold medal in the SEA Games and a fourth placed finish in the Asian Games. It is hope that Zico’s close relations with HAGL would help the Central Highlands club in improving their 7th place finish from last season, especially after their horror show of a performance in the championship group.
The 2021 V.League 1 season will see yet another familiar face returning to the dugout, this time in the form of Serbian head coach Ljupko Petrovic. The mastermind behind Red Star Belgrade’s 1991 European Cup triumph, Petrovic has returned to his old stomping ground that is Thanh Hoa FC in late November, with the Lam Son Warriors’ new leadership seeking to return the Northern Vietnam club back to it’s recent glory days. 73-year old Petrovic had previously taken charge of Thanh Hoa in 2017 – back then the club were still known as FLC Thanh Hoa. Underneath the Serbian’s guidance, Thanh Hoa finished as silver medalists of the 2017 season, with then-champions Quang Nam FC’s inability to attain an AFC license allowing Thanh Hoa to take their place in both the 2018 AFC Champions League and the 2018 AFC Cup.
However, disagreements with then-club president Nguyen Van De prompted Petrovic to leave Thanh Hoa at the end of the 2017 season. Van De has since stepped down after a tumultuous 2020 season and his replacement Cao Tien Doan has made the decision to bring Petrovic back to the Thanh Hoa Stadium.
Than Quang Ninh in Disarray
Last but not least, rounding up this pre-season digest of the 2021 V.League 1 is the sad state of affairs at 2020 4th placers Than Quang Ninh. The Hero Miner had been mired in financial issues since last season, which saw them bizarrely loan out three of their key players to Northeast Derby rivals Hai Phong FC. The end of the 2020 season saw Quang Ninh’s problems reaching a zenith, with salaries and bonuses owed to players and staffs from the 2020 season yet to be paid. Quang Ninh are also the only V.League 1 club that has yet to sign any new players this time out and a number of key players have left the club for pastures anew, leaving Quang Ninh with only 11 players going into the pre-season.
Goalkeeper Huynh Tuan Linh and defender Nguyen Van Viet have departed for HAGL, while the trio of Nguyen Xuan Hung, Giang Tran Quach Tan, and Dao Nhat Minh have jumped ship to Hong Linh Ha Tinh. Last but not least, the likes of Nguyen Huu Khoi and Jeremie Lynch have kissed the Cam Pha Stadium goodbye at the end of the 2020 season. Other key players such as Mac Hong Quan, Nghiem Xuan Tu, and Nguyen Hai Huy are still contracted to Quang Ninh, however they have yet to receive four months worth of salary and also relevant bonuses – which could be used as legal basis to terminate their contracts with the Hero Miner.
Making things worse, head coach Phan Thanh Hung has sent his letter of resignation to the Quang Ninh directors. Should the Quang Ninh higher-ups fail to respond adequately to his requests, Thanh Hung will end his 4-year association with the club.
Since their promotion to the V.League 1 in 2014, Quang Ninh have slowly established themselves as a major player in Vietnamese football. They’ve qualified to the AFC Cup twice, while they also have one Vietnamese National Cup (2016) and one Vietnamese Super Cup (also 2016) to their name. Quang Ninh were a club on an ascendancy, however their current financial issues means that many people are fearing that the Hero Miner could end up disappearing altogether from Vietnamese football, following in the footsteps of clubs such as Navibank Sai Gon, Sai Gon Xuan Thanh, Vissai Ninh Binh, Hoa Phat Hanoi, and Hanoi ACB.
Quang Ninh club president Pham Thanh Hung revealed that the club need 70 billion to 80 billion VND for the upcoming 2021 season. Usually 30 million of that budget was covered by Quang Ninh’s sponsor, however with their withdrawal Pham must burden the entire team’s budget from his own pocket, leading to the ongoing financial difficulty. To circumvent this, Pham has consulted with the Quang Ninh People’s Committee for help and he’s considering handing the team over to them to ensure Quang Ninh’s future for the upcoming season.