Youth training and school football

National U11 and U13 tournaments are being held in many domestic groups. Locally, the 25th Youth - Children's Football Cup of Nghe An Newspaper in 2023 (which the writer participated in a number of years) also reached the winning finish line before the press entered the occasion of the anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day (June 21). When community football and school football have not really developed like many places in the world, this is a really important foundation to gradually build and develop professional football according to new requirements.

Song Lam Nghe An has decided to establish a youth football team to participate in the 2022 National Third Division Football Tournament. Photo: Duc Anh

In the overall picture of youth training, it can be seen that Nghe An has always been the number 1 quality training cradle in the country. The systematic and methodical investment of the province, the sports industry, the participation of many agencies, units, businesses, the support of parents and above all, the passion for the king sport of the majority of Nghe people... and many other reasons have created that proud tradition. And not only in the province, Nghe people going everywhere still maintain that "outstanding feature" related to football, from men's football to women's football, from within the province to outside the province, abroad.

Just one example to prove it: Do Luong has long been the center that has produced many generations of good players for Song Lam Nghe An, from the time of Quang Tinh, Cong Minh, Van Lam, like Cong Phuong, Tuan Tai at Hoang Anh Gia Lai and Viettel..., contributing to Vietnamese women's football like Thai Thi Thao, Vu Thi Hoa, now also contributing overseas Vietnamese player Nguyen An Khanh... All of them have their roots in youth training at district and provincial training centers, from grassroots tournaments that are still regularly organized as an irreplaceable model today.

Looking more broadly, in our country, youth football is operating thanks to the budget like the model of Song Lam Nghe An, thanks to sponsorship from private units, large economic groups such as Hanoi FC, Viettel, Hoang Anh Gia Lai, PVF, Juventus Academy in Ho Chi Minh City... Meanwhile, with the leading football development in the continent such as Japan, Korea..., school football is invested strongly, systematically and achieved resounding results. Players are cared for from primary school, high school and especially when they go to university. From here, talents are focused on training, nurturing, improving to become professional players, becoming the main human resources for national teams.

We must remember the famous saying of the late head coach of the Vietnam National Team A. Riedl, "Vietnamese football is building a house from the roof" with the implication of not focusing on training young people properly and in the right direction. It is not by chance that after a successful cycle with Vietnamese football, Mr. Park Hang-seo still wants to stay in his "beloved second homeland" to continue his football career, but with school football. Because that is the main and inevitable path for Vietnamese football to truly develop and keep up with the modern trends of the continent and the world. Mr. Park Hang-seo is promoting the establishment of a community football center, "to teach football" to Vietnamese children with the experience and enthusiasm of a skillful teacher, with many successes and a connection with football and the country of Vietnam.

It is also worth mentioning that the “quality” of street football, wild and artistic like Brazilians, cunning and resourceful like Argentines, healthy and full of energy and dedication like African countries, if trained scientifically and systematically in European style, has been and is producing countless bright gems as many people know. Football in the fields, villages, and evenings like in many Vietnamese villages, especially in Nghe An, if trained in district and provincial centers, in good training centers, in Mr. Park Hang-seo’s center in the future or abroad, will inevitably produce quality players as desired. It is a long-term, step-by-step process with great hope, very much worth supporting and encouraging.

Youth football season is taking place here and there. We are happy with the achievements and results, but we also need to expand our observation, find new ways, and convincing directions for youth football to take further, more solid and progressive steps. Youth football is a "festival of childhood" and the whole society must know how to raise the level and improve the quality of that festival, through many specific, practical, creative and innovative actions, of which the story related to Mr. Park Hang-seo's school football center is just a specific example.