Former Man Utd star wants to help Vietnam achieve its dream of attending the World Cup

Giggs is excited to work in Vietnam. Photo: Duc Dong.

Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes are in Vietnam at the invitation of the Vietnam Football Investment and Development Fund (PVF). According to the signed contract, Giggs will take on the role of Technical Director, responsible for player training and coach training, and participate in building and developing PVF to become the number one football training center in Vietnam.

Sharing about his upcoming tasks, Giggs said: "For young players, it is important that we see their potential and help them reach that potential. My colleagues and I will design a long-term plan to train young players. They need good coaches, a reasonable diet and training regime, as well as a desire to win.

I have spent 25 years playing and 2 years working in the management system at Man Utd. I will bring that experience here to create a path that can bring young players to their dreams, as well as help PVF achieve its goal - that is to create factors that can contribute to helping the Vietnamese national team win a ticket to the 2030 World Cup. Of course, it is not an easy path. But we must have dreams. I once dreamed of playing for Man Utd and I achieved it. Today, I am here to help you achieve your dreams."

One of the important and initial factors that made Giggs have great faith in PVF's success was the infrastructure. He emphasized: "I trained at Man Utd's Carrington, and it is one of the world's leading training centers. However, after visiting and learning about the facilities at PVF, I found that the infrastructure here is not inferior to Carrington, and in some aspects is even better. I am very excited to be with my colleagues in this system, to contribute to training and supervising young players from the technical, physical, nutritional aspects... so that the future of Vietnamese football is truly bright."

Like the years on the field, after retirement Scholes continued to accompany Giggs. Photo: Duc Dong

After retiring, Giggs and some former teammates of Man Utd's legendary "1992 Squad" invested in the small club Salford City - which also focuses on training young players with the goal of becoming professional footballers.

Sharing about his path to youth football, he said: "I have my own observations, and think that young players need to practice good habits, have good training, good nutrition and must set goals to become professional players. I, like Paul Scholes and other former players of the 1992 generation, always want to support young players.

Not all those who meet the above conditions become professional players. Only a few achieve that initial goal. But those who come out of those training programs can absolutely work, serve, and contribute to football in different fields such as sports science, coaching... That is our long-term goal."

When asked about the possibility of becoming a tourism ambassador for Vietnam, Scholes said: "That's quite a surprise. To become a tourism ambassador, you have to understand the place very well. However, all doors are open. If in the future I fall in love with the country, people, places, or food of Vietnam, then maybe that will be an interesting opportunity. But for now, I'm very pleased with your welcome."

Giggs said: "When we were players, our journey was very closed. Usually: airport, hotel, playing on the field and then returning. We often didn't have time to go here and there. But since retiring, we have had many opportunities to do that. And certainly in the near future we will arrange to visit the people and country of Vietnam - a destination that everyone desires."