VFF looking for coach Calisto's replacement: 5 candidates selected for the "final"

Yesterday, VFF leaders had a meeting with the National Coaching Council to decide on the list of candidates who will enter the final selection round. From the initial list of 25 candidates, after discussion, VFF leaders and the National Coaching Council agreed to select 5 names that will be directly evaluated and negotiated by VFF.

Among these 5 candidates, there are 2 candidates with German nationality, Hans Juergen Gede and Franz Goetz. Mr. Gede was once on the list of 5 most promising candidates when VFF selected the head coach for the Vietnam National Team in 2008 (but in the end, Coach Gede was "defeated" by Coach Calisto). Coach Goetz comes from the football of the former GDR and is assessed by the National Coaching Council as having a very solid professional foundation, both in theory and practice.

Coach Steve Sampson (left) and Coach Pierre Lechantre, potential candidates for the position of head coach of the Vietnam National Team.

The third candidate is French coach Pierre Lechantre, the coach who led Samuel Eto'o's Cameroon Olympic team to win the men's football championship at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. He is considered one of the two candidates with the most impressive resumes to be selected by the VFF and the National Coaching Council in the final round.

Not only did Coach Lechantre help Cameroon win the men's football gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, he also led the Cameroon national team to the championship of the 2000 African Cup of Nations after defeating Nigeria in the penalty shootout.

In his coaching career, this French coach has experienced many different levels, from the national team (Cameroon, Mali, Qatar) to the club (Al Ahli, Al Siliya, Al Rayyan) or North Africa (MAS Fes, Africa, Sfaxien), from Africa to West Asia. Therefore, it is no coincidence that Coach Lechantre is highly appreciated by the leaders of VFF as well as the National Coaching Council, and his name is ranked first in the list of 5 candidates for the final round of VFF.

Although not as famous as Coach Lechantre, Portuguese coach Eduardo Martinho Viganda also received special attention from VFF. Coach Viganda has held many captain positions at different teams, from Europe to Asia. In the CV introduced by Coach Viganda, this teacher once led the youth team and the Portuguese national team, and his most outstanding achievement with the maroon team was the 4th place title in men's football at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

With the VFF's requirement of having experience in Asian football, Coach Viganda can also fully meet the requirements, because he has worked in the UAE, Korea, Iran... Under the leadership of Mr. Viganda, the Saudi Arabian team won the Asian championship in the 1996 tournament.

The fifth candidate, Steve Sampson, may be a name unfamiliar to Vietnamese fans, but many members of the National Coaching Council are especially fond of this candidate because of his "huge" resume. Coach Sampson was the number one assistant to US head coach Bora Milutinovic at the 1994 World Cup, and after Mr. Milutinovic resigned, Coach Sampson led the US team to compete in the 1998 World Cup and Copa America 1995.

Among the candidates for the position of head coach of the Vietnam national team so far, Coach Sampson is the only one who has directly worked in the world's top tournaments such as the World Cup and Copa America. Therefore, although the VFF leaders were a bit hesitant to put this candidate's name on the final selection list because they were worried that there would not be enough money to meet Coach Sampson's salary requirements, a member of the National Coaching Council reassured: "Rest assured, you get what you pay for, expensive is worth it, such a famous coach, a slightly higher salary is also normal."

After leaving the US national team in 1998, coach Sampson spent 2 years leading the Costa Rica national team (2002-2004) and then he returned to the US to work at the Los Angeles Galaxy Club, David Beckham's current team, but coach Sampson only stayed there until mid-2006 when he was fired.

The above are the 5 candidates that VFF and the National Coaching Council have agreed to select based on the review of professional information from their resumes. In the near future, at the earliest this weekend, VFF will have to directly contact the National Football Federation of these coaches, as well as work with each person to verify the information, and at the same time negotiate salary and contract term. A leader of VFF said that this is the most difficult job, and selecting 5 promising names from the first 25 profiles is just the beginning.

According to TT&VH