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General
Flag of Vietnam Vietnam
Flag of Vietnam
Nickname(s) Golden Star Warriors
Association Vietnam Football Federation
Confederation AFC
Head coach Park Hang-Seo
Captain Đỗ Hùng Dũng
Most caps Lê Công Vinh (83)
Top scorer Lê Công Vinh (51)
Home Stadium Mỹ Đình
FIFA code VIE
FIFA ranking 97 (August 2022)
Highest FIFA ranking 84 (September 1998)
Lowest FIFA ranking 172 (December 2006)
First international Philippines 2–2 Vietnam
(Manila, Philippines; 26 November 1991)
Biggest win Vietnam 11–0 Guam
(Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; 23 January 2000)
Biggest defeat Oman 6–0 Vietnam

(Incheon, South Korea; 29 September 2003)

AFC Asian Cup appearances 3 (First in 2007)
Best result Quarter-finals
AFF Championship appearances 14 (First in 1996)
Best result Champions
Vietnam 2023 homeVietnam 2023 away

The Vietnam national football team is the national football team representing Vietnamin international football competitions and is managed by the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF).

During the late 1950s, known by the name South Vietnam national football team it was one of the four strongest teams in Asia and advanced into the final round of 1956 AFC Asian Cup, 1960 AFC Asian Cup, finishing 4th both times.

The team also won 10th Merdeka Tournament in Malaysia, 1966. While Vietnam was split into North and South Vietnam, two national teams existed and both were controlled by similar Vietnam Football Associations. After the two countries unified in 1976 the Vietnam Football Associations was renamed to VFF.

Currently, Vietnam is one of the most successful teams in Southeast Asia. In the FIFA World Rankings, Vietnam's highest standing was in the first release of the figures, in September 1998, at 84th. It won the ASEAN Football Championship in 2008. The team is currently ranked 112nd in the world, 17th in Asia and 1st in Southeast Asia by FIFA (as of 21 December 2017).

History

Early history

The introduction of football into Vietnam traced its roots in 1896 during the era of colonial French Cochinchina (Vietnamese: Nam Kỳ). 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.

Two Vietnam era

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. Hong Kong and Japan then advanced but neither got any farther, losing play-offs for the next round to South Korea and Israel respectively. The team played their last game against Malaysia in 1975 where they lost 0–3. Meanwhile, the team from the North was less active, 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.

Post civil war and redevelopment era

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 Vietnam Football Federation (VFF). Trịnh Ngọc Chữ, deputy minister of General Department of Sports, was elected president of VFF and Lê Thế Thọ was appointed as the vice-president. The reunified Vietnam national football team then played their first match against the Philippines in 1991 where they had a draw. In 1996, along with other Southeast Asian teams, Vietnam participated in the first Tiger Cup where they finished in third place. Vietnam hosted the second Tiger Cup in 1998 where they lose 0–1 to Singapore in the final.

2007 AFC Asian Cup co-host and revival

Vietnam hosted the 2007 AFC Asian Cup for the first time along with Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. They beat the UAE 2–0 and drew 1–1 with Qatar in the group stage. Though they lost 1–4 to Japan, they were able to go on to quarter-finals and were the only host and only Southeast Asian team to reach quarter-finals. In the quarter final they were defeated by the latter champion Iraq by 0–2.

2008 AFF Championship triumph

Scenes during the final of 2008 AFF Championship. Clockwise from top: Vietnamese supporters during Vietnam's triumph, Vietnamese team receiving the cup and Vietnamese team before the second leg final matches.

In the 2008 AFF Championship (which is a successor tournament of the Tiger Cup), Vietnam were held in Group B together with Thailand, Malaysia and Laos. Though losing 0–2 in their first match against Thailand, the Vietnamese team bounce back and defeating Malaysia by 3–2 before a large victory of 4–0 against Laos. In the semi-finals, Vietnam hold the defending champion Singapore by 0–0 in a home match before winning 1–0 in an away match. In the finals, they meet Thailand again and finally managed to defeat them by 2–1 in an away match before drawing 1–1 in a home match by a score from Lê Công Vinh through a free-kick by Nguyễn Minh Phương, thus winning the tournament with an aggregate of 3–2.

2009–15: drought

Vietnam team in the semi-final of the first leg of 2010 AFF Championshipmeeting Malaysia national football team.

Vietnam had continued its participation to seek the quests to become champions twice at the regional AFF Championship and to gain tickets entering the AFC Asian Cup. However neither efforts was successful in these tournaments and even during 2012–15, Vietnam suffered a serious setback at football. The repeated failure of the team has made some senior Vietnamese players to lose their confidence as the team remains poorly performing in international stage during these period.

2016–now: hope and resurgence

With the success of its youth teams, notably the Vietnam national under-20 football team and Vietnam national under-23 football team by qualifying the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup and reaching the final of 2018 AFC U-23 Championship tournament for the first time, this has brought a significant and positive influences to Vietnamese senior team. The senior team begun to play a better football than years ago suffering drought. During 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification, Vietnam, after managed two draws against Afghanistan and Jordan, had repeatedly defeated its neighbour, Cambodia, both away and home matches. Vietnam was having a big chance to qualify to an international tournament since the 2007 AFC Asian Cup which Vietnam was a co-host, if they didn't lose to Afghanistan later. On 14 November 2017, after managed to hold Afghanistan with a 0–0 draw, Vietnam managed to qualify to the AFC Asian Cup for the first time in its history.

In 2018 AFF Championship Vietnam won the second titles after 10 years.

In 2019 Asian Cup Vietnam reach the quarter-finals.

In 2022 World Cup qualification Vietnam reach the third round for the first time ever but failed to qualify for the finals tournament.

Team image

Kits

Kit provider Period
Adidas 1996–2007
Li-Ning 2007–2008
Nike 2009–2014
Grand Sport 2014–

Vietnam's current kit sponsor is Grand Sport. The contract started in January 2015 which will end by the end of December 2019. Vietnam was also previously sponsored by Nike, Adidas and Li-Ning. 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.

Grounds

Mỹ Đình National Stadium (Vietnamese: Sân vận động Quốc gia Mỹ Đình) is a stadium in Mỹ Đình commune, Từ Liêm District, 10 kilometres north-west of central Hanoi, has a capacity of 40,192 seats and is the centrepiece of Vietnam's National Sports Complex. It was officially opened in September 2003 and was the main venue for the Southeast Asian Games along the same year, hosting the opening and closing ceremony as well as the men's football and athletics events. The stadium is home to the national football team, and hosts its home and international matches. It is the second biggest stadium in the country and was built at a cost of US$53 million. Arched roofs cover the grandstands on the east and west sides of the arena, providing shelter for half of the seats. The area provides training facilities for the teams with two football training grounds conveniently located next to the stadium.

Stadium Capacity Location
Mỹ Đình National Stadium 40,192 Mỹ Đình, Hanoi
Thống Nhất Stadium 25,000 District 10, Ho Chi Minh City

Supporter

There are two major supporters for the national team, namely VFS (Vietnamese: Hội CĐV Bóng đá Việt Nam) which was founded in 2014 and VGS (Vietnamese: Hội CĐV VGS) founded in 2017.

Competitive records

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record
Year Result Pos. Pld W D L GF GA
1930 to 1950 Did not participate
1954 to 1974 South Vietnam national football team
1978 to 1990 Did not enter
1994 to 2022 Did not qualify
Total Best: 0/22

AFC Asian Cup

AFC Asian Cup record
Year Result Pos. Pld W D L GF GA
1956 to 1976 South Vietnam national football team
1980 to 1992 Did not enter
1996 to 2004 Did not qualify
2007 Quarter-finals 8/16 4 1 1 2 4 7
2011 to 2015 Did not qualify
2019 Quarter-finals 8/24 5 1 1 3 5 7
2023 Qualified
Total Best:Quarter-finals 3/18 9 2 2 5 9 14

AFF Championship

AFF Championship record
Year Result Pos. Pld W D L GF GA
1996 Third place 3/10 6 3 2 1 14 10
1998 Runner-up 2/8 5 3 1 1 8 2
2000 Fourth place 4/9 6 3 1 2 14 6
2002 Third place 3/9 6 4 1 1 21 12
2004 Group stage 6/10 4 2 1 1 13 5
2007 Semi-finals 3/8 5 1 3 1 10 3
2008 Champions 1/8 7 4 2 1 11 6
2010 Semi-finals 3/8 5 2 1 2 8 5
2012 Group stage 6/8 3 0 1 2 2 5
2014 Semi-finals 3/8 5 3 1 1 12 8
2016 Semi-finals 3/8 5 3 1 1 8 6
2018 Champions 1/10 8 6 2 0 15 4
2020 Semi-finals 3/10 6 3 2 1 9 2
Total Best:Champions 13/13 71 37 19 15 145 74

Trophy

AFF Championship (2):2008,2018

Players

# Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
23 GK Nguyễn Tuấn Mạnh 31 July 1990 (age 27) 10 0 Sanna Khánh Hòa BVN
22 GK Phạm Văn Cường 19 July 1990 (age 27) 0 0 Quảng Nam
1 GK Bùi Tiến Dũng 28 February 1997 (age 20) 0 0 Thanh Hóa
2 DF Âu Văn Hoàn 1 October 1989 (age 28) 21 0 Sông Lam Nghệ An
17 DF Vũ Văn Thanh 14 April 1996 (age 21) 15 2 Hoàng Anh Gia Lai
4 DF Bùi Tiến Dũng 2 October 1995 (age 22) 9 0 Viettel
3 DF Vũ Ngọc Thịnh 8 July 1992 (age 25) 6 0 Hải Phòng
5 DF Đoàn Văn Hậu 19 April 1999 (aged 18) 3 0 Hà Nội
15 DF Vũ Xuân Cường 6 August 1992 (age 25) 0 0 Thanh Hóa
20 DF Trần Đình Trọng 25 April 1997 (age 20) 0 0 Sài Gòn
18 MF Đinh Thanh Trung (Vice-captain) 24 January 1988 (age 30) 28 2 Quảng Nam
6 MF Vũ Minh Tuấn 19 September 1990 (age 27) 16 5 Than Quảng Ninh
7 MF Lương Xuân Trường (4th captain) 28 April 1995 (age 22) 17 1 Gangwon FC
14 MF Nguyễn Huy Hùng 2 March 1992 (age 25) 15 1 Quảng Nam
8 MF Đỗ Duy Mạnh 29 September 1996 (age 21) 7 0 Hà Nội
19 MF Nguyễn Quang Hải 12 April 1997 (aged 20) 3 1 Hà Nội
21 MF Đỗ Văn Thuận 25 May 1992 (age 25) 0 0 Sài Gòn
13 MF Trần Minh Vương 28 March 1995 (age 22) 0 0 Hoàng Anh Gia Lai
9 MF Nguyễn Văn Toàn 12 April 1996 (age 21) 17 4 Hoàng Anh Gia Lai
10 FW Nguyễn Văn Quyết (captain) 1 July 1991 (age 26) 50 13 Hà Nội
16 FW Nguyễn Công Phượng 21 January 1995 (age 23) 17 3 Hoàng Anh Gia Lai
11 FW Nguyễn Anh Đức (3rd captain) 25 January 1985 (age 33) 25 6 Becamex Bình Dương
12 FW Hà Đức Chinh 22 September 1997 (age 20) 0 0 SHB Đà Nẵng

Coaching staff

Position Name
Head Coach Park Hang-seo
Technical director Yusuke Adachi
Assistant coach Lee Young-Jin
Fitness coach Cedric Roger

Park Sung-gyun

Goalkeeper Coach Nguyễn Thế Anh
Match analyst Kim Tae-min
Doctor Choi Ju-young
Interpreter Cho Sung-wan

Managers

Name Coaching career Pld W D L Achievements
Park Hang-seo October 2017 – present 46 21 12 13 2018 AFF Championship Champions

2019 AFC Asian Cup Quarter-finals

Mai Đức Chung (Interim) August 2017 – October 2017 2 2 0 0
Nguyễn Hữu Thắng March 2016 – August 2017 16 8 6 2
Toshiya Miura May 2014 – January 2016 14 7 3 4
Hoàng Văn Phúc January 2013 – April 2014 3 1 0 2
Nguyễn Văn Sỹ (Interim) October 2012 – November 2012 4 1 0 3
Phan Thanh Hùng August 2012 – October 2012 14 5 5 4
Falko Götz June 2011 – December 2011 5 3 0 2
Henrique Calisto June 2008 – March 2011 42 11 11 20 2008 AFF Championship Champions
Alfred Riedl 2005 – October 2007 23 8 8 7 2007 AFC Asian Cup Quarter-finals
Trần Văn Khánh (Interim) December 2004 1 1 0 0
Edson Tavares February 2004 – December 2004 11 4 1 6
Nguyễn Thành Vinh (Interim) January 2004 – February 2004 1 1 0 0
Alfred Riedl January 2003 – December 2003 7 3 0 4
Henrique Calisto August 2002 – December 2002 10 5 3 2
Dido 2001 - 2002 6 3 1 2
Alfred Riedl August 1998 – 2000 32 16 6 9 1998 AFF Championship Runners-up
Colin Murphy October 1997 6 3 1 2
Lê Đình Chính (Interim) 1997 1 0 0 1
Trần Duy Long 1997 5 0 0 5
Karl-Heinz Weigang 1995 – June 1997 17 9 2 6
Edson Tavares 1995 1 1 0 0
Trần Duy Long (Interim) 1994–1995 1 1 0 0
Trần Bình Sư 1993 11 2 0 9
Nguyễn Sỹ Hiển 1991 3 0 1 2

Records

Most capped players

# Name Caps Goals
1 Lê Công Vinh 83 51
2 Phạm Thành Lương 78 7
3 Nguyễn Trọng Hoàng 74 12
4 Nguyễn Minh Phương 73 10
5 Quế Ngọc Hải 64 4
6 Lê Tấn Tài 64 3
7 Phan Văn Tài Em 55 7
8 Nguyễn Công Phượng 54 11
9 Nguyễn Văn Quyết 53 15
10 Lê Huỳnh Đức 51 27

Top goalscorers

# Name Goals Caps
1 Lê Công Vinh 51 83
2 Lê Huỳnh Đức 27 51
3 Nguyễn Hồng Sơn 18 37
4 Nguyễn Văn Quyết 15 53
5 Phan Thanh Bình 13 31
6 Nguyễn Tiến Linh 12 31
7 Nguyễn Anh Đức 12 36
8 Nguyễn Trọng Hoàng 12 74
9 Nguyễn Công Phượng 11 54
10 Nguyễn Quang Hải 10 45
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