V-League season promises drama, greater professionalism

Game on: Le Tan Tai of Khanh Hoa (left) tries to get past Tran Tuan Anh of HCM City team in their V-League match last year. Khanh Hoa meet Hai Phong team in their V-League opener away today. — VNA/VNS Photo Quang Nhut

The new season of the national football championship, V-League, begins this weekend. It is the first time all clubs are now operating as official businesses. It also marks the biggest-ever prize money for the victory team as well as a TV broadcast deal with a private company. Viet Nam News spoke to Le Hung Dung, deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF), about the new season, the use of sponsorship money and the plans to improve the quality of V-League and make it more professional.

The new V-League football season will begin today. The tournament definitely has new features compared to the 2010 season. Could you tell us what they are?

This is the first season all 14 participating clubs are recognised as businesses, according to regulations of the FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Besides that, this year's V-League also has other new features. The quality will improve because of the bigger prize money, which is strong motivation for clubs to play their best. I think there will be many aggressive matches.

There are also more matches to be broadcast live than in previous seasons and this will help further enhance the brand and image of the V-League.

Are there any changes in the regulation of the number of foreign players on the pitch at one time?

National football championship kicks off with Ha Noi derby The new season of the 2011 national football championship, Eximbank V-League 2011, will start this weekend with seven matches across the country. Some notable first-round matches include defending champions Ha Noi T&T vs Hoa Phat Ha Noi, Becamex Binh Duong vs Ninh Binh, SHB Da Nang vs Hoang Anh Gia Lai. The champions will receive a total of VND3 billion ($150,000), thrice higher than that of 2010. The runners-up pocket VND1.5 billion ($75,000) and the third team gets VND750 million ($37,500). In addition, the organisers will also award a fair play prize of VND200 million ($10,000), and a prize of VND20 million ($1,000) for the best coach of the season. The best scorer also pockets VND20 million ($1,000), the best fan club, VND20 million ($1,000), and the best team of the month, VND30 million ($1,500).

This year, the federation will apply the 4-3 rule. Each club will be allowed to register four foreign players on the team list and they are allowed to field a maximum of three on the pitch at once instead of last year's 5-3 rule.

I support the use of foreign players in the V-League. Not only is it an inevitable trend but it also brings benefit to Viet Nam football.

Foreign players help improve the quality of local players, which, in turn, contributed to the increasingly improved quality of the national team. The evidence is that Viet Nam are playing well in recent years.

The team no longer fears taller opponents and can even play with many strong teams from the Middle East on an equal footing. We have the disadvantages of size and physical strength as well as a poor training facility.

I think that V-League is the best foundation for the national team. However, we limit the number of foreign players playing on the pitch for the sake of the national team. I support players of Vietnamese origin like American player Lee Nguyen The Anh, who could receive Vietnamese nationality and play for the national team.

Does VFF has any policy to encourage clubs to give talented young players more opportunities to play in order to create sources for the Olympic team in the 26th SEA Games in Indonesia this year?

VFF will create a legal framework to encourage and allow clubs to do that but it is the owners and coaches who have the right to field the players on the pitch. The federation does not have the right to tell clubs which players they should field.

The Viet Nam Export Import Commercial Joint-Stock Bank (Viet Nam Eximbank) decided to sponsor V-League for three successive seasons, with the sponsorship value of VND90 billion (US$4.5 million). How will VFF use the money to make the V-League better?

I need to make it clear that Viet Nam Eximbank will sponsor V-League three successive seasons, with sponsorship value of the next season being higher than the previous season by 10 per cent. So the total sponsorship value of all three seasons would be VND100 billion ($5 million).

After every season, Viet Nam Eximbank and VFF will sit down and talk about how VFF used the money and what Viet Nam Eximbank gained from this sponsorship.

The sponsorship deal will be stopped if it does not bring the desired effect in terms of the promotion to the bank and if the quality of V-League declines.

The federation will have plans to use the money it gets from V-League. I am responsible for financial issues of the federation, so I will ask the general secretary and related divisions to carefully use the money to ensure that it is used efficiently and for good purposes. — VNS

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V-League lures foreign players

V are the champions: Nigerian striker Anjembe Timothy celebrates after scoring a goal for V-League team Hoa Phat Ha Noi. The national football championship continues to be a lucrative market for foreign footballers. — VNS Photo Quang Thang

HA NOI — The V-League national football championship, continues to be a lucrative market for foreign footballers, with over 200 players flocking for trials at V-League teams annually.

The premier league, which closed in June, saw 70 foreigners competing for 14 V-League teams with monthly salaries of between US$5,000 and $12,000.

Foreign footballers actually have made the V-League more competitive since the football governing body, VFF launched its first professional league in 2001 and allowed teams to offer contracts to foreign players.

For the new football season, which begins next month, the VFF has issued regulations restricting V-League teams to a maximum of four foreign players, three of whom will be allowed to play at any given time. However, despite the match-day restrictions, teams are proving happy enough to bolster their squads with players from Africa and South America.

The last two years has also seen a growth in teams offering contracts to naturalised foreign players who do not affect the foreign-player quota.

In effect this means that V-League teams will be permitted to play one foreign-born player from next year, in addition to three foreign passport holding players.

"The V-League still has great potential. Currently, at least 20 unofficial agents are plying their trade in Viet Nam," said American-Vietnamese Mae Mua, who was granted a FIFA Players' Agent License in 2006.

"Most of V-League teams are looking for forwards from African countries as they are quite cheap, and they're more powerful than local forwards, while good European players are expensive," Mua said, adding that a European striker in the 32-34 age bracket would require a minimum salary of US$500,000 each year.

Mua, who is still the only official FIFA-agent in Viet Nam, said her job has become tougher as teams have set higher standards for potential players.

The agent, who has worked in the Vietnamese League for over a decade as a former representative of the British sports marketing firm Strata, said Vietnamese coaches are often happy with African players.

Nigerian-born Olushola Aganun, who was recruited by Dong Thap FC with a salary of around $3,000 last year, recently signed for Hoa Phat Ha Noi after a successful season, where he netted 10 goals for Dong Thap.

A source said Olushola had signed for the Hanoian team for a salary of around $7,000 a month.

Anjembe Timothy, who also played for Dong Thap last year, also moved to Hoa Phat Ha Noi after a good season.

Ninh Binh team coach Nguyen Van Sy said teams with limited funds were keen on signing African players.

"We offer six-month or one-year contracts and decide to extend the deal if the player is a success in their first year. It's the best option for us as we avoid risk," Sy said.

"Most teams recruit foreign strikers rather than defenders and midfielders. It's a reason why foreign forwards have continuously won the award as the V-League's top scorer since 2003."

Last year, Hai Phong became the first V-League team to announce a mega-contract with Brazilian superstar Denilson de Oliveira. But the deal fell apart when the Brazilian left the team after receiving US$10,000 for three weeks in Viet Nam, plus $15,000 for his 50 minutes of play and a solitary goal.

Mua said that the V-League this year, which kicks off next month, continues to lure African footballers and naturalised Vietnamese players.

Last year, foreign-born players Huynh Keskey Alves, Phan Van Santos, Dinh Hoang Max (Maxwell) and Ukraine-born Dinh Hoang La (Mykola) were called up to train with the national squad ahead of the Asian Cup qualifiers, but all failed to make the final squads. — VNS

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Yes or no for naturalized players in national squad?

Vietnamese football analyst Nguyen Van Vinh

Photo: Tuoi Tre

In our discussion on whether Vietnam should recruit naturalized foreign footballers for the national team, currently a hot topic after Vietnam’s early exit at Suzuki Cup, respected football analyst Nguyen Van Vinh turns the question on its head.

“Does Malaysia have any naturalized foreign players on its team?” he asked.

“Whatever you do with naturalized players is OK, as long as it is to improve domestic football in Vietnam,” the former coach and technical director of V-League club Hoang Anh Gia Lai told Tuoi Tre.

He added that we could not compare foreign players being granted citizenship in Vietnam with similar stories in other countries.

“The difference is the way and motivation we grant citizenship to them,” Vinh said.

In foreign countries, a player of foreign origin is only given the honor if he or she is well integrated into the local culture and society.

An example, the Germans -- who are much proud of their stock -- introduced their national football squad to the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa in June with 11 players of foreign origin.

They are, however, almost 100 percent Germans before learning to play football, Vinh said, adding that they grow up and rely on professional training in Germany to become talented. As such, they should not raise any eyebrow when given the honor to don the national cap and play for the national team.

In Vietnam, non-native footballers came to Vietnam on a football contract with local clubs and were later awarded citizenship with strong legal support from their clubs.

The reason these clubs wanted to naturalize these foreigners is to evade the local rule capping the number of foreign players on any team at three.

Consequently, admitting naturalized players into the Vietnamese national team cannot help improve the domestic football landscape.

“The national football team of Malaysia include all domestic players, but can still advance to the finals of the ongoing Suzuki Cup,” Vinh said.

The bottom line is, to make the Vietnamese national team stronger relies on well thought-out development plan, not on the use of naturalized players, according to the expert.

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Coach fears about fitness at Southeast Asian champs

Coach Henrique Calisto

Photo: Tuoi Tre

Vietnamese football coach Henrique Calisto told Tuoi Tre the team are not at their physical peak for the AFF Suzuki Cup that kicks off December 1.

“The recipe for a team to succeed includes three things – unity, quality, and motivation,” the Portuguese-born coach said ahead of the Southeast Asian Football Championship to be held in Vietnam and Indonesia until December 29.

Vietnam are now behind Thailand and Singapore in terms of these criteria, he said.

He pointed to the Asian Games in Guangzhou this month, saying the Vietnamese, except for goalie Tan Truong and striker Anh Duc, were smaller than the smallest player in the Iranian team who were themselves only average-sized for Asia.

Vietnam were eliminated in the group stage at the competition.

Nevertheless, Vietnam have not chosen any of their four naturalized foreign players while Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines have been doing so for a long time.

The non-selection of the foreign players, who are physically superior to the Vietnamese, is a weakness, Calisto said.

Among other problems for the team is the poor surface at Hanoi’s My Dinh national stadium where they will play in group B, he said. Since Vietnam play a short passing game, they will find the bumpy surface unsuitable, he explained.

Singapore, who traditionally play long balls, will benefit, he added.

As of today, tuoitrenews will cover up-to-date information about the AFF Suzuki Cup, available here

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