VietNamNet Bridge – Football Dreams, a recruiting project that develops young football talents will restart this month.


HTML clipboard Take a shot: Children practise their football skills at Hai Duong city's sports centre. Thousands of Vietnamese kids will take part in a recruiting project organised by the Qatar Aspire Academy next month. (Photo: VNS)
The project, in its fourth year in Viet Nam, organised by the Qatar Aspire Academy and the Viet Nam Football Federation will kick off from April to August, with the target of recruiting the three best players to train in Qatar for a month.


"Viet Nam Football Dreams 2011 will take place in 60 stadia across 43 cities and provinces and is expected to attract around 60,000 boys aged between 13-15," said the programme's managing director, Josep Colomer.


As scheduled, the qualifying round will be held from April 20 to May 20 to select 175 outstanding players.


Then experts from the Aspire Academy will choose 50 out of the 175 players for the national final round, slated for HCM City from August 6-7.


Following a five-day training session, the three most outstanding players will be selected to travel to Qatar to join their peers from other countries over a month-long training course.


Last year, the programme attracted 20,000 young candidates from 25 cities and provinces. The winners included Le Van Chung, Cao Thanh Hoe of the central city of Da Nang and Nguyen Viet Thang of the Mekong Delta province of Long An.


In 2008, HCM City's Phan Kien Trung of HCM City, Ngo Di Cu and Doan Hoai An from the southernmost province of Ca Mau were selected as new talents by the project.


In 2009, Da Nang's Nguyen Thai Sung became the first Vietnamese contestant in the Aspire's global final, receiving a scholarship for three years of training at the Aspire Academy.


Viet Nam and Thailand are the two Asian countries participating in the programme along with 10 other countries.


The Aspire Academy plans to build a football academy in Viet Nam or Thailand to help young footballers easier access modern football training programmes.


VietNamNet/Viet Nam News