If Mr. Duc quits football

Everyone knows Mr. Duc's straightforward and straightforward personality, saying whatever he wants. Despite his arrogance, Mr. Duc has often been humble in his life when it comes to football. For example, he once said: "Apart from my marriage, this is the second time I've worn a tie", at the launching event of his HAGL Arsenal JMG academy. Or he once declared: "In my whole life, I have never been a deputy to anyone, except for being a deputy to Mr. Thang", when the VPF company was established.

Saying that shows how important football is to Mr. Duc.

Yet recently he announced that he would quit football if Mr. Tran Anh Tu was elected as the Vice President of VFF, although that was almost certain to happen. Because Mr. Tu is the only candidate for that position.

If not a disaster,The day Mr. Duc left football was certainly a very sad chapter for Vietnamese football and of course, for Mr. Duc himself.. It sounds big, but in fact, Vietnamese football always owes Mr. Duc a thank you. Not everything he does or says is right, but certainly, it has a large positive impact on Vietnamese football. Mr. Duc is the one who created the winning formula with the Dream Team in 2003. He is also the pioneer in marketing football with "shock therapy" by recruiting Kiatisuk and later creating the generation of Cong Phuong, Xuan Truong... Mr. Duc is almost the first person to appear in the historical events of Vietnamese football in the last two decades. Only HAGL is the team that won the national championship in the first season of promotion, which is not easy to happen in world football. He is the co-founder of VPF company, the first boss who agreed to join the leadership of VFF and also the first person to quit football, creating the trend of "play when you like it, think when you are bored" although until now, he still... has not quit. It is a bit too much to say that Mr. Duc created a football revolution, but it must be admitted that without him, the picture of Vietnamese football would not have the colorful and attractive colors it has today.

But, if Mr. Duc quits football, the first person to lose will be him.. Because, as much as Mr. Duc contributes to football, in reality, football has also brought him a lot. When Mr. Duc started doing football, Hoang Anh Gia Lai was just a private enterprise on the business registration certificate, now it is a multi-industry corporation. Mr. Duc poured hundreds of billions into the HAGL Arsenal JMG Academy, but the generation of Cong Phuong and Xuan Truong also helped him save that much money on marketing and advertising for the corporation, attracting thousands of billions of dong on the stock market, making it easier to access projects... For experienced and successful businessmen, money just goes from one pocket to another, it doesn't go anywhere. And finally, in the history of V-League, has anyone publicly left a personal mark like Mr. Duc? People want to praise Mr. Hien - the person who contributed the most players to the U23 team that made a miracle in the Asian tournament in January - but they can't say it, because he said he doesn't have much to do with the clubs in V-League. As for Mr. Duc, he is always the "star". Therefore, it needs to be fair: Mr. Duc's gains in football are more than the things he can lose.

But if Mr. Duc is no longer there, it is not necessarily a great loss..For nearly two decades, Vietnamese football has been almost dependent on the bosses. They have brought many new and good things to professional football, but they also have their own interests and even take away many of the good things of football. The teams that "play when they like, quit when they are bored" such as Vissai Ninh Binh, Sai Gon Xuan Thanh, Navibank Saigon, Hoa Phat Ha Noi... don't they all belong to the bosses? Every time they "quit playing", Vietnamese football is in trouble. Otherwise, the "one boss, many teams" issue will arise, which will also make public opinion uneasy. It is them, not anyone else, who have repeatedly disappointed fans' expectations of a stable football scene.

“Escaping” from the control of the bosses may make Vietnamese football difficult again. However, in the current social context and economic perspective, without the bosses, the clubs will be able to operate on their own, change the way they manage the team, be more proactive in making money, and know how to take care of the audience better than the time when the bosses saw the team as a toy that could be given to anyone they wanted.

Professional football in the world, although always having the shadow of the bosses behind it, in essence must exist according to the market economy and cannot rely entirely on the wallets of the bosses.

Because there is an immutable principle: The bosses' wallets may run dry, passion may fade, but football and the audience must always exist.