VPF Vice President compares V.League to... Journey to the West

Up to this point, the VPF Board of Directors for the third term (2017-2020) has been in office for more than a month. This morning, VPF leaders had a meeting to mark the beginning of the new year 2018 and answered questions from the press frankly.

Mr. Tran Manh Hung affirmed that he will be more critical when joining the VPF Board of Directors to help develop Vietnamese football. Photo: IT

Specifically, Mr. Tran Manh Hung - who is the Chairman of Hai Phong Football Club and also the new Vice Chairman of VPF Board of Directors expressed: "In the new term, we will definitely change the working method to make V.League more attractive. Changing the image of V.League is very difficult, it takes time. I will joke a bit, in Journey to the West, even Tang Tang went to get the scriptures, how many disciples with great magical powers were captured by little monsters...".

Mr. Tran Manh Hung affirmed that his being the leader of the club and also the leader of VPF is legal, there is no overlap, each job has its own job.

"I have argued a lot to build VPF, build V.League over the past years. And when I join the VPF Board of Directors, I will argue even more strongly. We hope that VPF will be closer to the clubs like a family, sharing and supporting what the clubs lack to move towards professionalism. If we simply issue administrative orders and force the clubs to follow them, it will not be okay," Mr. Hung emphasized.

Mr. Tran Manh Hung - Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of VPF said that the poor quality of V.League is an important reason why spectators rarely come to the stadium. Photo: IT

In response to the press's question about finding ways to improve the quality of V.League and attract spectators to the stadium, Mr. Hung replied: "I am a club leader so I understand very well that any club wants to have a lot of spectators at each match."

"However, recently, the number of spectators coming to the stadium has been low. There are many reasons, but in my opinion, it is mainly due to the quality of the matches. The quality of the matches is related to the people. Youth training in Vietnam has had some good "training centers" in recent times, meeting the needs of national teams, achieving impressive results such as the U19 team participating in the U20 FIFA World Cup."

"But we have to frankly admit that youth training in general still cannot meet the development of V.League, for 14 teams participating in V.League. The quality of domestic players is not good. On top of that, foreign players are not good either. So how can the quality of matches be good?"

In addition to strengthening youth training with consistent instructions from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, and the Vietnam Football Federation, according to Mr. Hung, refereeing and disciplinary work must also be strict and public.

"One of the new points that the VPF Board of Directors of the third term is determined to change is not to hide from the media, public opinion, even the most sensitive issues. If there is a problem in the match, the referee will announce it publicly. If necessary, hold a press conference to announce clearly, not to let the information be confused like in the past," Mr. Hung expressed.

Mr. Hung said that the VPF Board of Directors has proposed to the VFF to allow the establishment of a referee subcommittee and a disciplinary subcommittee under the tournament organizing committee to "react faster".

"According to FIFA regulations, the Referee Committee and Disciplinary Committee still belong to VFF, we have no comments. But we want to establish a referee subcommittee and a disciplinary subcommittee under VFF to resolve issues arising throughout the season more quickly and transparently. This subcommittee will be signed by VPF, good performance will be rewarded, bad performance will be punished," Mr. Hung concluded.