Key changes to the V.League for the 2025/26 season.

The VPF announcement comes amidst the context of theNational Professional Football League 2024/25The season is drawing to a close. Notably, the 2025/26 season will start earlier than usual. Specifically, the V.League 2025/26 will begin on August 15th of this year and is expected to end on June 20th, 2026.

The National First Division will start on September 19th this year and is expected to end on June 20th, 2026. Meanwhile, the National Cup will run from September 13th this year until June 28th, 2026. The registration and transfer period, as set by FIFA for Vietnamese football, will run from July 15th this year to September 14th, with the second phase from January 25th, 2025 to March 17th, 2026.

Specifically, for V.League clubs, each club can register a maximum of 4 foreign players and use a maximum of 3 foreign players on the field. For teams participating in Asian and Southeast Asian club competitions, a maximum of 7 foreign players can be registered.

A new feature for the upcoming season is that First Division teams will also be allowed to register and use a maximum of one foreign player. And naturally, when V.League and National Cup teams face each other, only one foreign player will be allowed.

More importantly, in the 2025/26 V.League season, teams with poor performance, finishing in 13th and 14th place, will be directly relegated, while the top two teams in the First Division will be directly promoted.

Therefore, there will be two promotion and relegation spots without a play-off match like in the current and previous seasons. This requires clubs to focus on preparing their squads early and invest more to compete for the championship or defend their place in the V.League.

This crucial decision by the VFF and VPF will give financially strong teams an advantage in acquiring more foreign players and strengthening their squads, while teams with limited financial resources will certainly face many difficulties in the next season.