VFF seeks new national coach

Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF) General Secretary Tran Quoc Tuan said the national and Olympic teams would have a new coach by June, following the departure of Henrique Calisto ahead of the 26th SEA Games later this year in Indonesia.

The Portuguese coach resigned on Wednesday, following speculation of a better offer from a Thai club.

The VFF will meet with the national coaching council to discuss criteria for the new coach, who will add the final touches to preparations for the Olympic and national teams, according to Tuan.

Britain's Peter Withe is favourite to take the post having coached Thailand and Indonesia from 1998-2002 and 2004-07, respectively. He has lived in Southeast Asia for 10 years and turned down an invitation from Viet Nam in 2004.

The VFF will also look to Vietnamese coaches Phan Thanh Hung, Nguyen Van Sy and Nguyen Duc Thang as candidates following their experience working as assistants under Calisto.

Can Tho gears up for national students games

An athletic village will be built with 1,000 apartments, which will be able to accommodate 6,000 junior athletes.

More than 10,000 athletes will be competing in the qualifying rounds nationwide before the event.

Viet Nam invites foreign coaches to train athletes

The National Sports Administration has invited 10 foreigners to coach athletes participating in track and field, weightlifting, wrestling, taekwondo, chess, boxing and karate.

The coaches were hired to help athletes prepare for the 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Indonesia and London Olympics in 2012.

About 1,000 athletes from 35 national teams have been training at five national sports centres in HCM City, Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Da Nang and Bac Ninh since the beginning of this year.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News