The story of receiving gifts and 'smart money' in football

Although this team lacked star Quang Hai in the second leg, the foreign players were not the best, but with excellent domestic players and abundant financial resources, they were "warmed up" from the start and had no difficulty reaching the finish line first as everyone knew. After round 25, Hai Phong officially finished second and Binh Dinh finished third, a reasonable result from the "spending money" that these teams spent to "buy" good students, good teachers, and give big rewards for each win and for high rankings of the season.

On the surface, everyone knowsHanoi FCHaving enough "strong soldiers and generals" is thanks to many years of fundamental youth training, taking shortcuts to have a team of stars who are pillars in the national team, U23 orU20 Vietnam. Abundant financial resources combined with good working methods make this team's great ambitions quickly come true, helping them "dominate" the throne, occupying many positions in the national teams. Players and coaches who already receive high salaries, compete to achieve good results, and often receive large bonuses, have more motivation to compete better, to achieve higher and further goals. That is the story of a relationship of resonance, multiplication, continuously creating, achieving and maintaining, improving achievements in sports (as well as in daily life).

Song Lam Nghe An lost on Thanh Hoa field. Photo: Chung Le's document

Mr. Hien once declared in 2018 and it still holds true today that "You will always have gifts if you play well, play fair, and contribute". That was the story in the 2018 season when Hanoi FC won against the chasing team Quang Ninh, and also when the first leg ended with the temporary championship, Mr. Hien immediately doubled the bonus for a win, from 400 million VND to 800 million VND, bonusing each team 100 million VND, the goal scorer 20 million VND, the goalkeeper 30 million VND, bringing the bonus for the whole team after a match ending the first leg to more than 1.2 billion VND.

Also the story of bonus doping at the end of the first leg of the 2022 season when Hanoi FC met "rival" Hoang Anh Gia Lai with a win, Mr. Hien still took stronger action than ever, more than anyone else at this time: a bonus of 3 billion VND, equal to the national championship that the Organizing Committee awarded.

It is worth mentioning that not only Mr. Hien lavishly spends bonuses on players and teams that “play well, play fair, and contribute” to advance to the throne, many teams also dope bonuses for each win in the relegation race, as people did in Nam Dinh, Thanh Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City… and it seems that they have achieved their ultimate expectations. What is worth mentioning here is not to encourage dedication and achievement, but mainly the calculation. That if the team is relegated, the amount of money and effort to be spent to get promoted again will cost many times more than the small amount of doping for each win at present. That this money that comes first is the smart money…

Tran Dinh Hoang scored the opening goal for Song Lam Nghe An in the match against Hanoi FC at Vinh Stadium. Photo courtesy of Hai Hoang

Obviously, with strong financial resources, with smart money, winning the championship, and staying in the league is inevitable, something as old as the earth. For weak teams facing tight situations, leading to unpaid salaries, bonuses, and kickbacks like Can Tho or Saigon FC recently, the more they play, the worse they get, and being "pushed" to the bottom of the table is inevitable. It is also impossible not to mention the story of mid-level and top teams, when they do not have the goal of winning the championship and are not relegated, they play cautiously, waiting for the reaction from... bonus doping. Recently, there was a story about a team that was given bonus doping to help them play smoothly, scoring goals as easily as turning their hands. Then they were devastated like from the beginning of the second leg, losing two or three goals to the disappointment and dismay of fans near and far.

To be exact, that is not truly professional football, it is going beyond the necessary "financial fairness". But the difficulty is that we have not yet formed a market-based level for everything related to professional football, to the value of players, meaning that players have not received a fair reward for their efforts, contributions, and binding responsibilities and obligations after signing a professional contract. That is a long story of Vietnamese football to follow the common way of the world, so that every "smart money" spent brings many benefits not only to players, clubs, and owners but also to the community that contributes and builds from year to year. So that players do not have to receive/wait to receive "gifts" but must be rewarded from their weekly and monthly salaries in a professional contract according to the market./.