Check out 3 famous football families in Nghe An

1. Family of former football star Van Sy Chi

Born and raised in Hoang Mai town (Nghe An), but the entire football career of the late famous player Van Sy Chi was associated with the colors of The Cong and Thanh Hoa Police. He played for the army team and the Vietnam National Team in the period 1960 - 1970. Always associated with the number 10 shirt, the late famous player Van Sy Chi was nicknamed "immortal number 10".

As a coach, the former The Cong player was in charge of youth training at SLNA during the period 1996 - 2003. Thanks to the talent and dedication of Mr. Van Sy Chi, the SLNA training center (established in 1996) became the most prestigious and prestigious training center of Vietnamese football, where Pham Van Quyen, Nguyen Minh Duc, Le Cong Vinh, Nguyen Quang Tinh, Nguyen Trong Hoang, Hoang Van Binh... were trained systematically.

In March 2019, Mr. Van Sy Chi passed away, leaving his family, friends and Vietnamese football fans in mourning.

Not only is he an outstanding player, not only is he an exemplary and dedicated coach, Mr. Van Sy Chi is also the "father" of 5 players: Van Sy Ngoc, Van Sy Hung, Van Sy Son, Van Sy Thuy and Van Sy Linh.

The trio of Van Sy Hung - Van Sy Son - Van Sy Thuy were very famous in SLNA's shirt in the 90s of the last century to the early 2000s. A series of noble titles of SLNA had great contributions from them, typically the V.League championship in 2001.

Members of the Van family. Photo archive

Now, all 5 brothers of the Van family are working at the T&T - VSH Youth Football Training Center. This is the Center built by the Van family themselves in late 2005, before it belonged to Hai An Group and now T&T Group. It must be admitted that the Van family is the most famous sports family in the S-shaped strip of land, like the Maldini family in faraway Italy.

2. Family of former coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh

With 24 years leading SLNA (1980 - 2004), Coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh is one of the strategists with the longest time as "captain" of a football team and owns the most titles in domestic football (National Championship champion in 2000, V.League champion in 2001, National Cup champion in 2002, National Super Cup champion in 2000, 2001 and 2002...).

At the national team level, Mr. Vinh "Nghe" had the honor of taking on the role of acting head coach of U23 Vietnam (from late 2002 - early 2003) and of the Vietnam National Team (from January - March 2004). The most impressive achievement of former coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh when taking charge of the team was building the framework for U23 Vietnam to participate in the 2003 SEA Games, as the host team.

Former coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh (right) and his son, coach Nguyen Thanh Cong. Photo: dantri.com

Meanwhile, his son Nguyen Thanh Cong played for SLNA for many years (late 90s of the last century - early 2000s). During his playing days, the former player born in 1977 played as a striker. After retiring from his playing career, Nguyen Thanh Cong attended coaching training courses. Currently, Nguyen Thanh Cong is resting after nearly 2 seasons leading Saigon FC (2018 - 2019).

According to the assessment of experts and football fans in the country, Coach Nguyen Thanh Cong is one of the promising young strategists of Vietnamese football today. What Coach Nguyen Thanh Cong has done in the past 2 seasons at Saigon Club (ranked 5th in V League in 2019) is enough to affirm the talent of the former SLNA striker. Remember, in the past, Coach Nguyen Thanh Cong helped U17 SLNA win the championship at the National U17 Finals in 2008. It is true that "like father, like son".

Objectively speaking, the contributions of former coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh and to some extent coach Nguyen Thanh Cong to SLNA are immense. From a young, unknown team, under the guidance of Mr. Vinh "Nghe", SLNA has gradually become a force in Vietnamese football, a worthy opponent of The Cong, Ho Chi Minh City Police, Saigon Port...

3. Family of former football star Ha Thin

Having been with SLNA for 47 years as both a player and a coach (1968 - 2015), the former player born in 1952 is considered one of the symbols of the Nghe An team. During his time on the field, former player Ha Thin played as a central defender and was famous for scoring goals with his head. It can be affirmed that at SLNA, former player Ha Thin was the most outstanding player of his generation.

At the end of the 1988 season, former player Ha Thin was sent by Nghe Tinh province to Germany to study football. After 4 years of hard work, former player Ha Thin returned to his hometown to take on youth training work. Under the "molding" hands of former coach Ha Thin, a series of young football talents from Nghe An have become pillars of SLNA as well as the national teams. In particular, former coach Ha Thin also contributed to making SLNA's playing style smoother and more refined, instead of abusing "nail-cutting, iron-cutting" moves like in the past.

Former coach Ha Thin and late player Ha Mai Giang received the championship trophy at the U21 Thanh Nien Newspaper Finals in 2001. Photo courtesy

During the 2000s, former coach Ha Thin regularly led SLNA youth teams to participate in the Finals. The most impressive achievement of former coach Ha Thin in the National playground for youth teams was the championship of U21 SLNA at the U21 Thanh Nien Newspaper Finals in 2001, held in Da Nang city. Despite his success in youth tournaments, former coach Ha Thin only had one chance to lead SLNA to compete in the V.League, that was the 2006 season, the only season he was the "captain" of his hometown team.

Surely, Nghe An football fans still cannot forget former midfielder Ha Mai Giang, the player who won 2 championships with U21 SLNA (in 2000 and 2001). Unfortunately, the midfielder born in 1979, with a flamboyant playing style, once known as the "second" Phan Thanh Tuan, passed away after a traffic accident in early 2004. This was a great loss for the family of the former famous player Ha Thin and for Nghe An football.

However, as a teacher, former coach Ha Thin cannot let personal matters affect the common work. Holding back his grief and "swallowing his tears", former coach Ha Thin still tries to excellently complete the assigned tasks. In the summer of 2015, former coach Ha Thin submitted a resignation letter to the SLNA Board of Directors, citing poor health, and was approved. The news of former coach Ha Thin's official retirement made experts and football fans in Nghe An feel very regretful. Because former coach Ha Thin devoted his entire youth and his most precious things to SLNA.

This is to remind generations of SLNA fans of the great contributions of their predecessors, the "old trees", the "meritorious heroes" of their hometown team. It is a great pride that Nghe An has produced football people, elite players like the members of the Van, Nguyen and Ha families./.