VietNamNet Bridge - VPF said the draw of V-League 2013 would be held on November 3. Two months later, the first matches of the new football season will start.

The draw for the 2013 football season would have been held after the 2012 football season review meeting on October 6. However, it was postponed because some incidents occurred at that time: Navibank wanted to hand over Navibank Saigon FC to the Ho Chi Minh City Football Federation, the two FCs of mogul Nguyen Duc Kien (who was arrested for business-related wrong-doings) (ACB Hanoi and Hanoi FC) might not compete at the 2013 V-League and 2013 First Division Tournament.

Navibank Saigon has been sold to a new investor but the two FCs of Kien are still in the “standby mode”. Experts are still worried that the 2013 football season would be delayed.

CEO Pham Ngoc Vien of the Vietnam Professional Football JSC (VPF), which runs the V-League and First Division Tournament, explained: "The draw of the football season 2013 was delayed not because of Navibank Saigon or Kien’s FCs. The draw is usually held two months before the competition. As expected, the 2013 season will start in early January 2013. We still have enough time. On November 3, VPF will be meeting with 28 FCs of the V-League and the First Division Tournament and officials of the provinces that have FCs competing at the two above football events to discuss the new season. The draw will take place after that, two months before the ball rolls."

Navibank Saigon has not been officially transferred while the two teams of Kien have not prepared for the new season yet. They can still give up the tournament. V-League may not have enough 14 teams.

"If there is a team withdrawing from the V-League 2013, we will replace it by the third team of the First Division Tournament 2012. If two teams withdraw, V-League 2013 will be organized with 12 remaining teams. If four teams withdraw, V-League will take place with 10 teams," said Vien.

According to Vien, VPF and the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) have not received any information about the absence of any team next year.

"VFF and VPF will explore the difficulties of football clubs to provide necessary support. We believe in VPF’s management mode. If one or two clubs withdraw from the game, that's their right. V-League can still take place with 10 or 12 teams if football investors agree", VFF General Secretary Ngo Le Bang said.

Apart from Navibank Saigon and the two teams of Kien, many football clubs are in hardships because of financial difficulties. The transfer market is freezing while many teams announced to tighten their bell by not hiring foreign players and negotiating pay cuts with remaining players.

"Vietnam’s football is at a difficult stage but the new season will not be postponed. Players could previously be paid billions of dong of transfer fees, tens of millions dong of salary. But now bosses cannot pay high salaries. They cannot pay tens of millions dong but they can still pay several millions dong a month. Football cannot die. The ball must roll, according to the conditions of society", said VPF’s Chairman Vo Quoc Thang.

The draw of the season 2013 will take place on November 3. Around this event, VPF, VFF, football donors, local officials will explore the difficulty of each team to help them. The new regulations on the number of foreign players, the age limit of domestic players in transfer may be approved after this multi-party meeting.

S. Tung