VietNamNet Bridge - On the morning of March 27, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) held a ceremony introducing the new head coach of the national futsal team of Vietnam – Mr. Bruno Garcia, from Spain.



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VFF Chair Le Hung Dung (left) and HCM City Football Federation Chair - Tran Anh Tu – present a jersey and flag to coach Bruno Garcia at the introduction ceremony yesterday. 



Garcia, 40, signed a contract for three years and a half with the VFF. His salary was not disclosed.

The Spainish coach previously led many futsal clubs in his country. He then coached the Hangzhou Zhejiang Dragons team, which ranked second at the Chinese futsal championships.

Before going to Vietnam, he was the coach of the Peruvian national futsal squad.

During his coaching career, Garcia won the Ramon Cobo Award for excellent futsal coach of the Spanish Football Federation in the 2011-2012 season.

Many members in his team served the Spanish national futsal team, which crowned the European and world champion.

His immediate task is to take the Vietnamese futsal team to the quarter-finals of the Asia Futsal Champs this May in HCM City.

The VFF also expects that the Spanish coach will take Vietnam futsal to new heights during his coaching period.

"I had learned carefully about Vietnam futsal before I accepted to come here. Vietnamese futsal players are very fast and skillful. However, it is not good enough for futsal, they have to combine the technical and tactical thinking, teamwork and logical move to have good results," the coach said.

"You know, in Asia, Thailand, Japan and Iran are the three best futsal teams. But remember, 10 years ago, Thailand and Iran were at the same level with Vietnam but thanks to good investment, their futsal is now better than yours. So, I need time to do my job well and help Vietnam futsal progress."

Speaking at the ceremony, the new VFF chairman Le Hung Dung confirmed that the federation is determined to strongly invest in futsal. “Hopefully, Bruno will help raise the level of Vietnam futsal to take us on a par with the countries in the region and the continent," Dung said.

To prepare for the Asian Championships, the Vietnam futsal team will travel to Spain on April 9 for a two-week training course.

During their time in Spain, the team will play six friendly matches with local futsal clubs to gain experience and prepare well for the Asian Champs, which will take place in HCM City from April 30 to May 10.

Nam Nguyen