Dream come true

In the journey to win tickets and attend the 2023 World Cup, assistant Doan Thi Kim Chi is not only the right-hand man of coach Mai Duc Chung but also like a close aunt and sister to the players. Remembering the moment when the Vietnamese female players proudly sang the National Anthem for the first time at the biggest women's football festival on the planet, Kim Chi emotionally expressed: "That was a moment of a lifetime that any player would want to enjoy."

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had a friendly exchange with the Vietnamese women's football team on November 15, 2022, in Hanoi. Photo: NAM KHÁNH

After leaving athletics, Kim Chi entered football at the age of 19. Overcoming difficulties and hardships, in 11 years of competition, Kim Chi has achieved many titles such as: 4 SEA Games Gold Medals, 1 Southeast Asian Championship, 4 national championship cups, 4 times winning the Vietnam Women's Golden Ball... The image of Kim Chi, despite having to wear a head bandage due to injury, still playing steadfastly and shining at the 2009 SEA Games has strongly inspired female players.

After retiring, Kim Chi entered the coaching career and quickly achieved great success with the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Football Club with 7 national championships, 2 national cups, 1 National Sports Festival Gold Medal. Kim Chi said: "When I was a player, my colleagues and I only knew how to try our best but never thought that one day Vietnamese women's football would participate in the World Cup. Now the younger generation has done it, I am proud of them."

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with the Vietnamese women's team after their historic journey at the 2023 World Cup. Photo: QUY LUONG

In the list of the Vietnamese women's football team participating in the 2023 World Cup, Ho Chi Minh City Women's Football Club contributed 6/23 players, including: Tran Thi Kim Thanh, Chuong Thi Kieu, Tran Thi Thu Thao, Tran Thi Thu, Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy, Tran Thi Thuy Trang. If goalkeeper Kim Thanh always tried her best to make many excellent saves, then on the attack line, Bich Thuy left regrets for missing the opportunity to score when facing the goalkeeper of the Dutch women's team. However, enjoying the World Cup atmosphere with the female players is still an indescribable feeling. Midfielder Bich Thuy shared: "Looking back on the past, until now I still think I'm dreaming. The World Cup has always been an honor and a desire for me."

Bich Thuy is luckier than many young people in that she always receives encouragement and support from her family. However, when she achieved the expected achievements, the person that Bich Thuy wanted to show off the most was her father, but he was no longer there. Bich Thuy recalls: “My father once told me to “burn” myself out with passion, don’t let yourself look back and regret when you pass your youth. In 2014, when the Vietnamese women’s team missed out on a ticket to the 2015 World Cup, my father encouraged me: “You still have a chance to one day conquer that ticket with your teammates.”

For the Vietnamese women's football team to make their name at the World Cup for the first time, bringing pride to millions of fans in the country, is an arduous journey that the female players have had to go through. There was a time when most of the team members were infected with Covid-19, many players were out of breath on the field because they had just tested negative, but the Vietnamese women's team overcame the difficulties with victories that delighted the fans.

Sharing about this journey, President of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) Tran Quoc Tuan expressed: “8 years ago, the Vietnamese women's team lost the opportunity when they lost to Thailand in the qualifying round for the World Cup. Since then, the VFF has made changes in strategy and focused more on youth training, especially with young women's pre-selection classes focusing on long-term training. Players from this youth training class have appeared in the squad of the Vietnamese women's team for the 2023 World Cup.”

immeasurable values

During her visit to Vietnam at the end of 2022, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had a meeting with members of the Vietnamese women's football team. In a friendly atmosphere, Ms. Jacinda Ardern shared that she had hoped that the Vietnamese women's team would compete in New Zealand and that was indeed the case, and affirmed: "The Vietnamese women's team will be warmly welcomed to New Zealand to play in the 2023 World Cup." Also during his visit to Vietnam in June 2023, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met and had an exchange with the Vietnamese women's team. Before the 2023 World Cup kicked off, the New Zealand and Australian embassies in Vietnam held a farewell party to encourage coach Mai Duc Chung and his team before their historic journey.

During the preparation for the 2023 World Cup, the Vietnamese women's team received attention from Party and State leaders, as well as support from sponsors. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called the national women's football players the "diamond girls" of Vietnamese sports, demonstrating the talent, intelligence, qualities, will, and mettle of the Vietnamese people.

Meanwhile, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue praised the Vietnamese women's football team as not only the pride of the country's sports and football career but also of the entire Southeast Asian region. The female players are worthy descendants of Ba Trung and Ba Trieu, continuing to affirm and elevate the fine traditional values ​​of Vietnamese women in the process of innovation and international integration.

Since qualifying for the 2023 World Cup, the Vietnamese women's football team has received international attention. The position and image of the country's women's football team are properly assessed, helping us to conveniently connect for training in Europe and play friendly matches with the world's leading football teams. Then, on July 22, 2023, a historic event was marked: The Vietnamese national flag and national anthem were raised and played for the first time at the biggest women's football festival on the planet.

The match between the Vietnamese women's team and the US team was widely reported in the media, and was even broadcast live on a big screen in Times Square (New York, USA) - where a 30-second advertisement video costs 500,000 USD (nearly 12 billion VND). The match set a record for television viewers in the US (6.5 million) and became the second largest crowd of fans in New Zealand with 41,000 (after the New Zealand-Norway match with 42,000).

The chart shows the number of female players being trained at clubs in 2023. Chart by HUONG GIANG

In recent months, a series of major newspapers and famous news agencies such as The New York Times, CBS Sports, The Guardian, CNN, Reuters, AFP... have simultaneously published articles related to the Vietnamese women's team. Directly attending the match between the Vietnamese women's team and the US team with the President of the World Football Federation Gianni Infantino, VFF President Tran Quoc Tuan emotionally said: "The footsteps of the Vietnamese women's football team at the World Cup not only mark a great step forward in terms of expertise, but also a great step forward in spreading Vietnam's values ​​to the international arena. It also shows that investing in sports in general and football in particular is not only a matter of expertise but also a strategic issue in the process of national development".

From a professional perspective, Coach Mai Duc Chung believes that the 2023 World Cup has opened up great opportunities for Vietnamese women's football to interact and compete with the world's leading football teams. Strategist Mai Duc Chung affirmed that if we do not win a ticket to the 2023 World Cup, we may have to spend a lot of money but still cannot be sure of playing friendly matches with top teams such as the US, Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain or Portugal.

Meanwhile, Mr. Phan Anh Tu, Vice President and General Secretary of the Hanoi Football Federation affirmed: "The participation of the Vietnamese women's football team in the 2023 World Cup has created a huge impact on society. The image of Vietnamese female players passionate about football, with a desire to reach the world stage, has been known to millions of Vietnamese and international people. This has had a positive impact on other areas of society, contributing to raising the national brand. Female players have become role models for young people, especially girls, to confidently pursue their passion."

Participating in the 2023 World Cup, each player of the Vietnamese women's football team will receive a bonus of 30,000 USD (nearly 700 million VND) from the World Football Federation. The above amount of money will help many female players change their lives, some players will fulfill their wish to have money to give their parents to build a new house. The 2023 World Cup will open up many opportunities for the development of women's football, contributing to helping the country's sports have more solutions to the problem of sports industry and sports economy to attract investment and sponsorship resources.

“A strong national team must be based on the foundation of the national championship and strong clubs. The concept of investing in men's football and not developing women's football in some localities needs to change. If a mechanism is created, each strong women's club today can support and help some localities invest in women's football. If the national women's football championship has from 10 to 14 teams, it will help women's football in the country develop more firmly," Mr. Pham Hai Anh, Director of the Ha Nam Province Sports Training and Competition Center, proposed.

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Chief

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