Finding a happy ending for V.League 2021

For the first time, fans have had to witness a national football championship with so many uncertainties. After two postponements due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Organizing Committee and the clubs themselves do not know when it will be able to be held.

Head not smooth

Opening on January 15, 2021, only 2 rounds, not even through the warm-up, in round 3 of V-League 2021, there were 2 matches taking place on the field without spectators, signaling a bumpy start. Immediately after that, on January 30, 2021, the VPF Organizing Committee had to announce the suspension of competition from round 4 of the Vietnam National Championship until the approval of the authorities. In 2020, V-League had to be postponed twice for a long time of several months, but in the end it still returned and finished successfully, so people still hope for good things.

V-League 2021 continues to be postponed indefinitely. Photo: Hai Hoang

After a break, round 5V.League 2021resumed from March 23. The first time after the end of round 2, took place on March 15. During this time, VPF and VFF met with the clubs to come up with a change in the tournament's regulations, dividing the tournament into 2 stages, reducing the number of matches in V.League from 26 to a maximum of 20 matches, dividing into A and B after the first round of 13 matches. This is an option that SLNA does not benefit from, especially in the context of poor foreign players, young domestic players and coach Quang Truong not showing decisiveness.

But in the end, Vietnamese football fans could only watch 8 rounds of V.League 2021, until May 6, 2021. V.League 2021 was officially stopped for the second time for the same reason, the impact of Covid-19. Up to now, the 2021 National Championship has successfully organized 84 matches, 12 rounds with professional data recorded: 194 goals; average 2.31 goals/match; 344 yellow cards, average 4.10 cards/match; 15 red cards, average 0.18 goals/match; total number of spectators attending the stadium: 466,600 people (of which 29 matches were organized normally, 46 matches with limited spectators and 9 matches without spectators).

A tournament in turmoil

For Nghe An fans, this was a time to forget when SLNA played poorly and finished last in V.League 2021, an achievement that hurt the pride of fans. Tan Long's appearance and becoming a sponsor at the end of the season has somewhat restored the trust of Nghe An fans. Taking advantage of the National Team's concentration and the V.League's temporary suspension, sponsor Tan Long has made many strong moves to reform SLNA for the second time, from senior club management personnel, the team's coaching staff, to investing in facilities for both the first team and the youth team, and treating injuries for players.

Phan Van Duc has extended his contract with SLNA Club. He will stay with his hometown team in a 3-year contract until 2024. Photo: Duc Anh

SLNA's immediate big goal is still to train soldiers, to successfully maintain their position by all means, in the context of a series of competitors Hai Phong, Saigon FC, and Ho Chi Minh City also making similar strong moves. Nghe An fans are showing a lot of affection for Coach Huy Hoang and SLNA CEO Truong Manh Linh, the pair with the lowest age and career in V.League 2021.

Before SLNA, Thanh Hoa and Hai Phong also had strong reforms at the management level. V.League is now no longer suitable for quick-fix, unfunded business practices that do not follow professional football models. In terms of expertise, not only Quang Truong but also a series of other names such as Chu Dinh Nghiem (Hanoi), Pham Minh Duc (Ha Tinh) and most recently Le Huynh Duc (Da Nang) have had to resign one after another due to the pressure of achievements in V-League 2021. Saigon FC even changed 2 generals but their fate has not changed, and coach Phan Thanh Hung also suddenly resigned due to health reasons in Binh Duong to lead SHB.Da Nang.

The tail is not in yet.

After the National Team played relatively successfully and entered the 3rd qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup, it seemed that V.League 2021 would return with a centralized match schedule starting from July 31, 2021. According to the plan, the 3rd qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup will take place from September 2, 2021 to March 29, 2022. In particular, U23 Vietnam will participate in the 2022 U23 Asian qualifying round scheduled to take place from October 23 to October 31. The National Team needs to concentrate at least 10 days before playing the first match of the 3rd qualifying round on September 2, 2021.

With the orientation of giving all the best to the National Teams, V.League teams must accept a dense schedule of 23 days for a maximum of 8 matches. VPF has proposed a plan to select stadium clusters in the Northern region including 9 stadiums: Hang Day (Hanoi); VFF (Hanoi); Thanh Tri (Hanoi); PVF (Hung Yen); Viet Tri (Phu Tho); Cam Pha (Quang Ninh); Thien Truong (Nam Dinh); Lach Tray (Hai Phong); Thanh Hoa.

V-League 2021 continues to be postponed, Coach Park Hang-seo is worried about the Vietnam National Team. Photo courtesy of Hai Hoang

V.League 2021 clubs all gave constructive comments with the desire to complete the 2021 season as soon as possible. The clubs asked VPF to develop guidelines and implementation procedures when the centralized competition plan is approved, to prioritize safety, ensure Covid-19 prevention and control, learn from the experience of organizing safe tournaments, the "bubble" rule in tournament organization that AFC and UEFA applied in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, and Euro 2020; develop additional contingency plans for unexpected incidents; Organize a local working group to survey and work with local leaders to ensure that the tournament is organized in accordance with regulations; Survey training and living conditions for football teams... In addition, some clubs also asked VPF to provide appropriate support for some clubs when they have to move to the centralized competition area.

The V.League 2021 tournaments, which were expected to resume on July 31, 2021, were canceled when the Covid-19 epidemic situation in the localities became quite complicated. Vietnam's leading football organizers also could not predict where the 23-day gap would be to organize the remaining rounds of the V.League 2021.

Looking for the End

Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Minh Ngoc - General Director of VPF Company, on behalf of the tournament organizing committee, said: "With the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, VPF Company has encountered many difficulties in calculating to build feasible plans, suitable for the development of the Covid-19 epidemic in localities across the country. If the National professional football tournaments are not organized, it will directly affect the entire domestic competition system; affect the professional work of each club; affect the funding sources of the club and the tournament organizing unit".

Hanoi FC (left) struggled in the opening round of V.League 2021. Photo: Archive

V.League 2021 is still not out of the woods, people have had to think about the option of pushing the tournament to 2022, or even stopping the tournament. In fact, last year, European national championships also had many different solutions when the "Covid-19 killer" returned, some countries stopped the tournament.

Regardless of the plan, to ensure the safety of players, coaching staff, spectators and organizing committee members, VFF and VPF still put it first, but V.League 2021 will be mentioned forever because it has been postponed and postponed and until now, it has not been possible to give a happy ending. For SLNA, with the appearance of Tan Long, the team must stay in V.League is the expected ending!