Behind the 'five against one' story in the V-League

"One team can't compete against five teams. If Vietnamese football can't get rid of this phenomenon, it won't be able to improve. Because of this, HAGL itself no longer has the motivation to compete for the championship, forcing them to send players abroad or play for fun to nurture their players," said Chairman Duc on the sidelines of Cong Phuong's contract signing ceremony with Sint-Truiden (Belgium) in Ho Chi Minh City last week.

For those who follow Vietnamese football, it's understandable that bầu Đức (Chairman of the VFF) is referring to the "one owner, many teams" phenomenon dominating the V-League, effectively eliminating the chances of other clubs winning the championship. This shocking statement, made during a conversation with sports reporters, cannot yet be considered the official stance of someone who once held the position of Vice President of the VFF. However, it could negatively impact the image of the V-League, especially given the positive signs stemming from the Park Hang-seo effect.

The problem is that Mr. Duc's statement lacks much basis in fact.

Firstly, HAGL chose a different path for development, not because of the "five against one" mentality. In 2015, Chairman Duc promoted the entire first batch of players from the HAGL – Arsenal JMG Academy directly to the first team, resulting in an average age of only 23.5 years old in the 2015 V-League. Chairman Duc himself admitted at the time that "avoiding relegation was already a great achievement." Two years earlier, in the 2013 V-League, HAGL finished third, just three points behind league leaders Hanoi T&T (the predecessor of Hanoi FC). This shows that HAGL voluntarily gave up on the idea of ​​youth football and achieved considerable success in this area, rather than being pressured to the point of losing motivation to compete for the championship. Even now, with the average age of HAGL having increased by at least three years, the team from the mountain town has yet to improve its skill level, even in terms of winning against opponents of similar quality.

Since Hanoi T&T started competing in the V-League (in 2009), marking the beginning of a controversial period regarding the "one owner, multiple teams" phenomenon, the capital city team has won the championship four times, finished second four times, and third once. These numbers demonstrate their strong capabilities. However, in two of those four championships, Hanoi T&T had to wait until the final round to secure the title. This detail shows that they also faced fierce competition from their rivals.

The concept of "one owner, multiple teams" has only truly emerged in the last five years, after Quang Nam and Saigon FC "joined" Hanoi and Da Nang through certain connections to Chairman Hien. However, in the past five years, Binh Duong has won the championship twice in a row (2014 and 2015), Hanoi only twice (2016 and 2018), and the remaining title belonged to Quang Nam. But that year (2017), the Quang Nam team won the championship when tied on points with Thanh Hoa. Why not say Thanh Hoa was "bad," but instead claim Quang Nam won the championship thanks to a "five against one" situation? That year, Thanh Hoa finished the first phase in first place but gradually declined and then lost to Quang Nam in the final, intense phase of the race.

In the 10 years since joining the V-League (2005 to 2015), Binh Duong won the championship four times, finished second twice, and won the National Cup twice. In terms of achievements, they even did better than Hanoi. Even now, despite no longer receiving significant investment in their squad, Binh Duong remains the team that Hanoi fears most whenever they face each other. The upcoming AFC Cup Southeast Asia regional final between the two teams is very difficult to predict the winner. What Binh Duong has achieved shows that the biggest problem in the V-League is not the "five against one" situation, but rather the lack of teams with the ambition to win the championship.

Suppose, if Chairman Duc didn't "play for fun," didn't promote so many young players to the first team, and was willing to spend money on quality players like before... then HAGL, along with Binh Duong, Ho Chi Minh City, or SLNA, would form a group of teams strong enough to compete with Hanoi. Only a four-way or five-way battle like that could prove whether the "one chairman, many teams" theory is true or not.

Ultimately, despite being among the leading teams, Ho Chi Minh City's current capabilities are far inferior to Hanoi's – often described as a "miniature national team". Therefore, their inability to win the championship is normal, and not due to a "five against one" situation as Chairman Duc alleged.