Official: VFF introduces head coach Hoang Van Phuc

At 10:00 this morning, VFF officially held a ceremony to introduce head coach Hoang Van Phuc with a 2-year contract, tasked with bringing the U23 Vietnam team to the final of the 27th SEA Games.

According to the contract signed by both sides last week, Coach Hoang Van Phuc has been given the right to lead the Vietnam National Team and the Vietnam U23 Team for 2 years, starting from May 1, 2013.

Immediately after his introduction, Coach Hoang Van Phuc expressed his opinion: "I am very honored to be trusted by the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, VFF, and the National Coaching Council to lead the National Team and the U23 team. I promise that together with the coaching staff, we will build a beautiful, scientific and reasonable playing style for the National U23 team to reach the final of the 27th SEA Games, creating a premise for the National Team to compete well and reach the semi-finals of the 2014 AFF Cup."

Regarding the opportunity of the Vietnam U23 team at the 27th SEA Games, Coach Hoang Van Phuc affirmed: "I recently discussed with the National Teams Department to prepare the U23 team for the SEA Games. There will be 4 training sessions, the most recent on May 28th the U23 team will have the first training session, lasting 2 weeks and will compete with the Kashima Antlers Club and the Myanmar U23 team.

After finishing the V-League and the 2013 National Championship, the U23 team will continue to gather, train in Europe, and possibly play 3 or 4 friendly matches in Hungary.

In the third training session, the U23 Vietnam team will go to Myanmar to play a friendly match and then return to participate in the Ho Chi Minh City Football Cup. The fourth training session is extremely important to prepare for the SEA Games.

At the same time, the national team will have matches with Uzbekistan and UAE in the 2015 Asian Cup qualifiers.

Secretary General Ngo Le Bang said that the contract term is 2 years, but the contract has provisions that both parties have the right to terminate the contract under specific conditions and circumstances.

"We do not want to, but in forced circumstances, we can still terminate the contract. However, I still hope that both sides can reach the end of the contract term," said VFF General Secretary Ngo Le Bang.

According to Mr. Bang, the head coach must have a target when signing a contract. VFF has considered this issue with coach Hoang Van Phuc. The contract also has a target of bringing the U23 team to the final match of the 27th SEA Games.

"For many people, there will still be debates about whether this is a high or low target. Choosing which target is a difficult and sensitive issue. The important issue is how we treat each other if the team does not achieve results.The result of the match is a measure of the coach's ability but not the only one," said Mr. Bang.

Vice President Nguyen Lan Trung said: "VFF will create the best conditions for coach Hoang Van Phuc to lead the national team and the U23 national team.

At this time, Coach Hoang Van Phuc is the most suitable choice and we will create good conditions for him to complete his mission," Mr. Trung affirmed.

After his official debut this morning, Coach Hoang Van Phuc will join the Vietnam U23 team to prepare for a friendly match against Kashima Antlers Club (Japan) on June 4 at My Dinh National Stadium and against the Myanmar U23 team on June 11 at Thong Nhat Stadium (HCMC).

Currently, the coaching staff has made a preliminary list of players who will be called up for the next training session.

According to Thethaovanhoa - DT