What is the solution for the quality of the pitch in V.League?

Severe weather

At V.League 2024/25, many teams were unable to play at home because they did not meet the criteria for general facilities and grass quality in particular, such as SHB Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quy Nhon Binh Dinh and Hong Linh Ha Tinh. In particular, Ha Tinh stadium was not guaranteed to play in round 15 and was forced to borrow Vinh stadium to host the match between Hong Linh Ha Tinh and Dong A Thanh Hoa.

One of the reasons why stadiums in V.League, including My Dinh National Stadium, have difficulty in taking care of and maintaining the pitch surface is the weather conditions. Winter, cold and prolonged frost in the Central and Northern regions make it impossible for grass to recover and grow.

Most football teams today have abandoned ginger grass and replaced it with high-quality grasses such as Bermuda or Paspalum, making the pitches more beautiful and ensuring good competition. However, the characteristics of these grasses are only suitable for mild, sunny weather conditions and require careful care.

Therefore, many clubs have invested and spent an average of 500 - 1 billion VND, even 2.5 billion VND per year like PVF Center, many football fields are still at an average level, not really meeting the requirements for organizing professional competitions.

Use the stadium as a training ground

Weather is only part of the reason, because if it were only the weather, why would stadiums like Lach Tray, Hai Phong, or the fields of PVF Youth Training Center, Hang Day Stadium, Thien Truong... still ensure quality? That is because the clubs use the stadium as a training ground while foreign stadiums are almost never used as training grounds but only organize competitions, with only 1 practice session to get familiar with the field.

It can be seen that stadiums such as Thong Nhat, Binh Duong, Lach Tray, Thien Truong, Pleiku... are stadiums with good quality grass all year round, not only because of investment in care but also because the clubs that choose these stadiums as their home stadiums all have their own training grounds.

With Vinh Stadium, although having a separate training ground, coach Phan Nhu Thuat and his team still have to practice together with the youth teams. Song Lam Nghe An Club currently with Team 1 and 10 youth teams has only 2 artificial turf fields and only 1 natural grass field. This makes Vinh Stadium and the training ground overloaded due to the high training density, the quality of the grass is difficult to recover, especially during periods of harsh weather, cold and frost.

Vinh Stadium and many other football fields today have the advantage of being handed over to the local authorities for management and use. Therefore, they are not affected by outdoor events and the clubs are proactive in the use, renovation and maintenance of the field. The rest of the football fields are dependent on the investment capacity of units under the Sports industry.

Infrastructure problem

It can be seen that weather or budget are not the main reasons for the deterioration of the grass of the stadiums in V.League. The clubs have paid more attention and been more active in upgrading and improving facilities and organizing competitions, but they still face difficulties due to the lack of training grounds.

However, finding more space to invest in training grounds is not easy at present. Hanoi Football Club, with its strong financial condition, still has to rent training grounds belonging to the Management Board of My Dinh National Stadium. Currently, there are very few V.League teams that have 2 or more training grounds. This is also one of the difficulties that makes the organization of youth tournaments dependent on PVF, Pleiku, Binh Duong or Vung Tau.

The most miserable in terms of training ground is Hong Linh Ha Tinh. After the match against Dong A Thanh Hoa in round 15 of V.League, coach Nguyen Thanh Cong was forced to let the players take 2 days off from training because Ha Tinh stadium had to be closed for maintenance and could not continue to borrow the training ground as well as the stadium of Song Lam Nghe An.

Looking further, it is not just a story about professional stadiums, but to develop football, especially youth training, community football, school football, it is necessary to have many standard stadiums. For children to practice football, physical activities with football, it cannot be implemented effectively when the clubs and youth training centers themselves are seriously lacking in training grounds.

Therefore, this problem really needs the support of the Vietnam Football Federation, the tournament organizing committee and the attention of localities./.