Vinh Stadium: The nightmare of V.League players

Vinh Stadium was established in 1957 in Vinh Citadel. The stadium was officially built in 1973 and in 1976, Vinh Stadium invested in upgrading the lighting system sponsored by the Federal Republic of Germany.

In 1999-2000, Vinh Stadium was completely upgraded, with the B stand expanded and 1,000 more seats added, and a new A stand built with a capacity of nearly 7,000 seats. At that time, the drainage system was installed in a structure running around the stadium.

In 2002-2003, Vinh Stadium completed upgrading the playing field. In 2006, the drainage system was handed over and put into use. It was not until 2016, thanks to co-hosting the National Phu Dong Sports Festival, that Vinh Stadium installed bleacher seats at stand B and renovated some items.

Vinh Stadium needs to be renovated and upgraded soon, with the ground, grass surface and irrigation system. Photo: Duc Anh

Since 2017, it is known that there has been a plan to upgrade and renovate Vinh Stadium, but it is still unclear when it will be implemented due to financial difficulties. SLNA Club's home stadium is currently considered to be of poor quality in the V.League.

Firstly, the lighting system of Vinh Stadium only averages 382 lux, not meeting the minimum requirement of 900 lux. The quality of the grass cannot be maintained due to the high density of training and competition. The underground irrigation system is degraded, requiring manual watering, harsh weather and these factors make the surface of Vinh Stadium harder than normal.

In the 2019 V.League season, a series of SLNA players suffered injuries due to various reasons and many cases occurred right at home during training sessions. That was the case of torn ligaments of midfielders Phan Van Duc, Vo Ngoc Duc, Le Van Hung.

Other players such as Cao Xuan Thang, Le The Cuong, and Ho Phuc Tinh also often had to sit out due to injuries, causing the Nghe An team's injury list in the 2019 season to reach dozens of people.

Not only that, the visiting team players must also be cautious when coming to Vinh Stadium because the ground is too hard, making it easy to get injured. In the case of striker Vu Quang Nam, a former SLNA player who is currently playing for Ho Chi Minh City, he suffered a knee injury right at Vinh Stadium in a match last season.

Vinh Stadium, view from above. Photo courtesy

Every season, SLNA plays 13 home matches and almost all the coaches of the away teams complain that the bad field has affected the quality of the matches.

This poses a problem that needs to be resolved soon because not only does the quality of the matches decrease, but it also puts players at constant risk of injury, which greatly affects their future playing careers.

Lam Nghe An River and crystal feet

(Baonghean.vn) - In football, injuries are inevitable, but in one season, there are dozens of cases of injuries and then recurring injuries like SLNA, which is an alarming problem.