The 'name-changing' syndrome in Vietnamese football

(Baonghean.vn) - The ball has not yet rolled but V-League 2017 has seen 3 teams eagerly "changing their names". There are quite a few investors "hurriedly coming, then quickly leaving", causing many names on the Vietnamese football field to die after only a few seasons. The problem of football business is always a headache for club managers and VFF..

Club name change syndrome, currently QNK.Quang Nam and HN.T&T have carried out the procedure of "returning the name to him" by removing the sponsor's name from the team name. FLC Thanh Hoa has just announced the decision to divest from FLC Thanh Hoa Football Joint Stock Company, but it seems that the name FLC disappearing from the team is just a matter of time. With a "near-professional" football background, "changing names and surnames" of clubs happens like eating.

Football fans only remember Hanoi ACB, Hoa Phat, Navibank, Saigon Xuan Thanh, Visai Ninh Binh… and dozens of other business names, as a memory. The fate of football teams living on “budget milk” is not better when Binh Dinh, Nam Dinh, An Giang, Lam Dong, Dong Nai…, a series of traditional localities disappear from the football map.

Whether HN FC will become the football team of Hanoians or not remains to be seen. Photo: Internet

It is not difficult to calculate, to "live decently" VPF believes that each club participating in V-League spends about 35 billion VND/year on the first team, including salary fund, bonuses; airfare, accommodation costs, transfer fund... In addition, professional clubs must have youth teams from U11, U13, U15, U17, to U19... if each youth team has an average of 30 players/class, it must cost at least 15-20 billion VND more. In short, to have a name on the map of Vietnamese football, the owners must spend at least 55 billion VND/year, and with a transfer policy like B.Binh Duong in recent years, the number must be double, or even more.

Although both HN.T&T and QNK.Quang Nam announced legitimate reasons for the sponsor's withdrawal. Even the President of Hanoi T&T Club Nguyen Quoc Hoi declared very professionally: "In the direction of developing the team, we always hope that one day Hanoi T&T will become a representative of the capital's football, playing for Hanoi fans. Over the past ten years, there have been some successes and some failures, but we have never stopped thinking about that." But what the real problem is, those who have followed Vietnamese football for a long time know.

FLC Thanh Hoa's coaching staff and players were quite surprised when FLC withdrew from football. Photo: Internet

The withdrawal of FLC from the club was kept secret even from the coaching staff and Thanh Hoa players, right before the season started. Mr. Doan Van Phuong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of FLC Thanh Hoa Football Joint Stock Company, just last year, declared that he wanted to stick with football for a long time. Even when the company was established with a charter capital of 50 billion VND by 3 main shareholders, FLC Group (owning 80% of the charter capital), they participated as founding shareholders, Mr. Doan Van Phuong (10%) and Mr. Le Thanh Vinh (10%). FLC is not much different from Cong Thanh Cement, noisy when it comes and quiet when it goes.

With the model of football joint stock companies that mainly spend money on football, not football business like in Vietnam, anything can happen. A Thanh Hoa player even bitterly said: "We were luckier than Hanoi FC last year. After 4 rounds, the new owners decided to change the name and home stadium."

In this name change, Hanoi FC seems to have more expectations from everyone. Although after more than a decade of being on the field, they still cannot "use football to support football", but at least they have the right to be proud, when they do not only know how to spend money and depend entirely on the purse of Mr. Hien.

N@T