V. League 2023 - 2024: New strength and ambition

As many people know, according to the plan, V.League 2023-2024 will start from October 20, 2023 to July 6, 2024, which means spanning 2 years as has long been done in world football.

In fact, a mass movement in many different directions and destinations has been going on for a long time now. Binh Dinh and Da Nang teams have replaced their old coaches and will quickly add a new coaching staff. The 2023 V.League champion Hanoi Police, who has been constantly changing positions, will soon be looking for a suitable strategist to meet the task, in addition to a number of positions that are considered not equal in strength and talent with their teammates.

The biggest change is the flow of players coming and going from football teams. Football teams that rely on sponsors and are facing difficulties such as Binh Dinh, Song Lam Nghe An… are “allowing” many key players to leave, in addition to players whose contracts have expired, to make room for young players with “affordable” salaries and benefits. Two strong teams such as Nam Dinh (still maintained since last season) and Binh Duong (recently emerging) are also allowing many old players who are considered unsuitable to be replaced, and are looking for new potential players to serve their new ambitions…

Previously, the phrase “talent drain” was often associated with the player transfer process of Song Lam Nghe An, but now, this is “appearing” to many other teams. Hoang Anh Gia Lai is not poor, but it is not as ambitious as before, and eventually the process of “dispersing the herd and dividing the calves” also took place as we know. Even the “newly rich” Binh Dinh, who used to buy a series of good teachers and good students, also had to “call for help” and now both good teachers and good students have left one after another, like Mr. Duc Thang, foreign player Rafaelson, and even Van Lam is stirring… Thanh Hoa is considered successful under Mr. Popov, but the team still could not keep Minh Tung or Thanh Long…

After all, the rule of “water flows to low places” or “if you can’t buy with money, you can buy with a lot of money” is becoming more and more evident in V.League. Ngoc Hai did not go to Hanoi Police or Hong Linh Ha Tinh but chose Binh Duong with a deep pocket, which is a fragrant example. It is not by chance that a series of national players “gathered” at Hanoi Police. Looking at the world, this is even more inconceivable because they do this every day like going to the market with increasingly high prices. The story of “hundred million pound” players no longer surprises or stuns anyone, even though the quality of the response is always a big question mark?

Of course, the above mentioned positive and bustling movements in V.League are something to be happy about and look forward to. The quality of the players and their ambitions, the use of VAR, the increase in the number of overseas Vietnamese players, young players, etc. are factors that ensure the quality of the tournament. V.League is not only a story revolving around the 3 capital teams, but could Binh Duong or Nam Dinh be added in the future?

Fans will have many options to watch, even if they have to pay for the opportunity. Professional football has high salaries, so free and broadcast TV promotion will be a thing of the past. Some stadiums will have fewer spectators than traditional ones such as Nam Dinh, Vinh, Pleiku, Quy Nhon... Worryingly, sponsors and businesses seem to not care much about the concerns of fans, and the story in Nam Dinh is an unhappy proof. The long process of the first and second legs can also be a "stage", a "living space" for many remaining amateur manifestations, especially devilish alliances, gang fights...

However, according to Mr. Bandovic - head coach of Hanoi FC, who was voted the best in V.League and Thai League, although there are many good points, V.League is still lower in quality than its neighbor Thailand, especially the fact that they compete in 3 tournaments (Vietnam only has 2 tournaments, National Championship and National Cup), allowing the registration of 6 world players, 1 Asian player, 3 Southeast Asian players. V.League currently only allows the registration of 3-4 foreign players, 1 naturalized player and 1 overseas Vietnamese player. In the current competition environment, it is clear that the attractiveness, competition and finally the quality of the matches and tournaments of V.League are still things that have many concerns, need to be improved and upgraded more.

To see, despite the acceleration and improvement in quality, V.League still has many points behind the world, behind the region, although the gap is gradually being shortened. The most hopeful thing is that the working process of Mr. Philippe Troussier with U23 and the Vietnam National Team will truly inspire the efforts of each player, spread to each team, practically serve the difficult World Cup goal that Vietnamese football is seriously setting, has a better chance of realizing than ever. The V.League 2023-2024 is worth mentioning, worth waiting for, certainly because of that deep and specific cause?