Stories of military leaders in V.League

Unforgettable impressions

The most impressive thing to mention first is the late coach Pham Huynh Tam Lang, the "captain" with the longest coaching experience in the history of Vietnamese football. Mr. Tam Lang coached Saigon Port for 23 years (1981-2003). But perhaps the end of the late coach Pham could not be sadder, Saigon Port was relegated right after the championship with 11/12 position. Coach Pham Huynh Tam Lang's team lost 11/22 matches.

Late coach Pham Huynh Tam Lang is the "captain" with the longest coaching experience in the history of Vietnamese football (family photo)

Coach Carlos Oliveira is a foreign coach who was fired without having officially coached a single match. He was no longer the head coach of Becamex Binh Duong after only 3 months of appointment because of... not having enough qualifications.

Coach Minh Duc is the only coach who has never won in V.League. When he was the coach of Hanoi.T&T, he lost 3 matches and drew 1 match. This season, he led Hong Linh Ha Tinh and lost 2 matches. But perhaps Minh Duc needs more time because Hong Linh Ha Tinh is a rookie in V.League 2020.

Coach Chu Dinh Nghiem. Photo courtesy

Coach Le Thuy Hai also holds the record for working with the most V-League teams. The strategist from Ha Dong has fought in the South and the North with 5 teams B.BD (2006-2008, 2011, Technical Director 2013-2015), Da Nang (2005), The Cong (2009), Ninh Binh (2010) and Thanh Hoa (Technical Director 2016). It will take a lot of paper and pen to talk about this professional who has had a long history of ups and downs with Vietnamese football over the past 2 decades.

"Coach Grinder"

Interestingly, despite many disagreements, Mr. Le Thuy Hai is the one who has existed in the "coach mill" B.Binh Duong the longest. Because from V.League 2002 until now, B.Binh Duong has used 17 coaches, including 5 foreign coaches Nam Dae-shik (Korea), Fancisco Vital, Luis Rodrigues, Ricardo Formosinho (Portugal) and Cho Yoon-hwan (Korea), but this coach named Le has still existed for 7 seasons.

When it comes to "changing coaches like changing clothes", it is impossible not to mention the Thanh Hoa football team. The ability to "bear patience" of the bosses here is quite low, in 13 seasons Thanh Hoa team used 16 coaches, of which 22 times "changed horses midstream". Unlike other V.League clubs, in Thanh Hoa even when they are successful, coaches still have to leave, coach Duc Thang is a typical example.

The match between SLNA - B. Binh Duong. Photo courtesy of Xuan Thuy

Mr. Duc is also considered a "coach killer" since 2003. This Binh Dinh-born boss has been in the coaching position 17 times. Up to now, HAGL has used 11 coaches from Thailand (5 people), Vietnam (3 people), Korea (2 people) and France (1 person). Up to now, Mr. Arjhan Srong-ngamsub is still the most successful coach with 2 V-League championships in 2003 and 2004. The Thai captain later also left his mark at Binh Dinh Club.

The Mountain City football team emphasizes beautiful and dedicated football but must ensure efficiency, which is too difficult for any domestic or foreign coach when working with HAGL. Since the 2006 season, HAGL has fallen out of the group of strong teams in V.League and Mr. Duc is still diligently changing the coach rather than changing the football philosophy. Perhaps the number 17 will be quickly replaced in the coming years.

Story of SLNA, Hanoi FC

Hanoi is a football team that is considered to have a fairly stable strategy of using people. Since 2009, in the V.League, the capital team has used 2 coaches Phan Thanh Hung and Chu Dinh Nghiem the longest. When needing to "put out the fire", Mr. Hien quickly invited coach Huu Thang from Vinh to help Trieu Quang Ha. After coach Phan Thanh Hung "returned home", it only took them exactly 4 "staggering" rounds to get back on track. What experts admit is that Hanoi has built a club system in the direction of professional standards.

Former coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh when he was still working. Photo archive

SLNA has used 7 different coaches, all of whom are "SLNA natives", and have never hired an outside coach. However, with the current mechanism, the goal of returning to the medal group is still a story of the future.