The Provincial People's Committee awarded prizes to the SLNA U13 champions.

SLNA U13 team returns with their 9th championship title in the history of the National Youth Football Tournament. Photo: Duc Anh

Attending the ceremony were Ms. Tran Thi My Hanh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of the Department of Culture and Sports; Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports; and representatives of the SLNA Club leadership.

Song Lam Nghe An FC has long been a cradle for youth football training in Vietnam. The club from Nghe An province has consistently dominated in U-age tournaments organized by the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF). This tradition continues as the U13 SLNA team recently won the 2022 National Youth Football Championship. With this victory, the U13 Nghe An team has extended their record to nine national U13 championship titles.

Leaders from the Nghe An Department of Culture and Sports and SLNA Club presented flowers to the SLNA U13 team. Photo: Duc Anh.

2020 was the most recent championship win for the SLNA U13 team. Entering the 2021 National U13 Championship, the team from Nghe An was also considered a top contender for the title. However, due to the impact of the pandemic, many SLNA U13 players contracted Covid-19. Therefore, the team from Nghe An was unable to participate in that tournament.

The qualifying round of the 2022 National Youth Football Championship continued to be held in Nghe An. Under the guidance of coach Dang Van Tuong, the SLNA U13 team achieved an undefeated record and secured their place in the next round. In the final round of the 2022 National U13 Championship, SLNA was placed in Group B, along with U13 Hanoi, U13 Long An, and U13 HAGL. After the group stage, Coach Dang Van Tuong's team earned 7 points and finished first.

In the quarter-finals, U13 SLNA faced U13 Viettel, a team from one of the country's leading youth football training centers. However, Coach Dang Van Tuong's team still secured an easy 3-1 victory. In the semi-finals, U13 SLNA performed even more brilliantly, winning convincingly 6-0 against U13 PVF.

The Provincial People's Committee presents awards to the SLNA U13 team. Photo: Duc Anh

The final match saw a showdown between the two most impressive teams of the tournament: U13 Hanoi and U13 SLNA. However, with their superiority in every aspect, the young football team from Nghe An province won 2-0 in the first half. This result officially secured U13 SLNA their 9th championship title in the history of the National Youth Football Tournament.

This is also the second championship title this year for SLNA's youth teams. Previously, SLNA's U9 team also excellently won the 2022 National U9 Tournament for the Toyota Cup.

At the ceremony, Ms. Tran Thi My Hanh praised and congratulated the leadership and the entire U13 SLNA team. She affirmed: “The U13 SLNA players are the young heroes of Nghe An sports, bringing glory to the land by the Lam River. Besides winning the championship, they also achieved many individual awards, such as Top Scorer, Outstanding Player… This is a source of pride not only for them, but also for the province. I hope that in the future, the U13 SLNA team will not rest on their laurels, but will continue to train to achieve even greater success.”

The Director of the Department of Culture and Sports also affirmed that the Department of Culture and Sports will always stand alongside SLNA Club to create all the conditions for the young players to grow and achieve greater success in their chosen fields.

At the ceremony, the People's Committee of Nghe An province awarded 30 million VND to the U13 SLNA championship team. The President of SLNA Club donated 50 million VND to the U13 SLNA team.

Duc Anh