VietNamNet Bridge – The incompetence of the country's football governing body has taken its toll on the football league, but Viet Nam still has potential to be a football powerhouse both regionally and continentally.

Photo: VNN

The country officially established itself as a football force in the region at the Southeast Asia Football Championships (Tiger Cup) in 1998 as Vietnamese football displayed a beautiful and effective football, beating the then-leading team Thailand 3-0 in the semi-final match to enter the final as hot favourites, despite losing 1-0 to Singapore in the final.

The success of football in the late 1990s attracted many businesses to football and as a result, a football league was introduced, although it was only experimental.

In the early years of the league, a lot of money was poured into the game and many fans attended matches around the country. The number of clubs increased from 12 to 14.

As a result of introducing the V-League, the national team reached the quarter-finals at the Asian Cup in 2007 and won the ASEAN Football Federation Football Championships (AFF Cup) in 2008, the most significant achievements that Vietnamese football has had up to now.

However, Vietnamese football has surprisingly deteriorated since 2009, the year that marked the beginning of the chaos in player transfers and purchases with exorbitant transfer fees.

But as far as the quality of Vietnamese football is concerned, it has shown little change.

Football clubs, used by businesses as a tool for advertising, under the pressure of results, have to focus on hiring foreign players or buying good local players instead of building youth training centre to train future players professionally.

Except for Hoang Anh Gia Lai-Arsenal Football Academy, which selects young players trained with foreign coaches, all other clubs do not have a real football training centre.

The promotion fund for Vietnamese football talent needs to have more money and more facilities and good foreign coaches are needed as well.

The lack of a professional training centre has led to the uneven quality of players, both in football skills and education. The consequence is that the country has never had a national team able to compete in continental competitions.

Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF) failed to form a group of elite football clubs that could dominate the domestic football league and compete in continental football competitions, which do not only help Vietnamese football to be promoted in Asia and the world, but also create opportunities for Vietnamese players to grow up beyond the region.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai and Dong Tam Long An of Becamex Binh Duong are two-time V-League champions but only Binh Duong has made Asia's second-tier competition, AFC Cup. The V-League has not produced any clubs able to compete in Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League.

Without a qualified youth football training centre or continental-level football clubs with a long established tradition, for which VFF is responsible, Vietnamese football cannot dream of even competing in Asia, let alone at the World Cup.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News