In the history of professional football in Vietnam, perhaps the National First Division has never been as exciting as the 2024-2025 season, even before the ball has rolled. The noise stems from the strange fluctuations of some emerging clubs. The season has not started yet, but the "outstanding" performance in the transfer market has helped these teams gain attention.
Weird transfer
When it comes to Vietnamese football transfers during the heyday (2018-2022), fans often talk about stars going abroad. Now, in 2024, the domestic transfer trend is that national players and former national players are leaving the V.League to... the First Division.
Hoang Duc left The Cong Viettel to join a club in the First Division. (Photo: VPF)
Nguyen Cong Phuong - the last of the "golden generation" stars to return from abroad - has just joined Binh Phuoc club. PVF-CAND welcomes Tran Ngoc Son, Nguyen Huy Hung, Le Ngoc Bao, Martin Lo... They are players who have played for the national team, U23 Vietnam, participated in major tournaments, affirmed their names in V.League and most of them are not yet 30 years old.
Ninh Binh Club paid The Cong Viettel billions of dong to buy Nguyen Hoang Duc when the current Vietnamese Golden Ball's contract only had 3 months left.
Vietnamese football once had goalkeeper Duong Hong Son win the Golden Ball while playing for the First Division team Hanoi T&T. However, the current Golden Ball winner leaving the V.League to a lower division is unprecedented.
Dang Van Lam will wear the Phu Dong Ninh Binh Club shirt even though he has just signed a contract with Ho Chi Minh City Youth.
Previously, Dang Van Lam also chose Ho Chi Minh City Youth Club in the First Division as his destination. However, the new team of the Vietnamese national team goalkeeper created a strangely complicated story. They spent billions of dong to recruit Dang Van Lam, then loaned him to their rival in the same division, Phu Dong Ninh Binh.
The goalkeeper born in 1993 is just one of the members of Ho Chi Minh City Youth who moved to Phu Dong Ninh Binh on loan before the season. Among them are national players and former national players such as Do Thanh Thinh, Nguyen Huu Tuan, Do Thanh Thinh and Dinh Thanh Binh.
The wave of star players from V.League down to lower leagues is not the strangest thing happening in the domestic football transfer market this season. The remaining players of Ninh Binh after the 2023-2024 season transferred back to Ho Chi Minh City Youth.
Football background more deformed
Player transfers are also a matter of mutual buying and selling, just like any other business transaction. It is difficult to fully analyze the impact of these contracts on the future macro development of Vietnamese football.
However, what has happened in the player transfer market in recent months is a sign reflecting the deformed state of football.
In the world, it is not uncommon for stars to leave the top environment to go to less prestigious tournaments in exchange for huge sums of money. However, there is no mention of players with seniority and position in the highest level playing field moving down to lower levels of the same tournament system.
Not only did a lower-league club create a "blockbuster" transfer with a billion-dong contract - in a context where most V.League teams were unwilling to do so - it also made football enthusiasts question.
Will the economic value and reputation of the First Division increase, or will the V.League decline?
A professional league system where the higher divisions have no more prestige or money than the lower divisions is clearly unusual. Not to mention the fact that two clubs in the same league swapping players is even more bizarre.
One thing is for sure, at least one club will not be able to get promoted to V.League after investing billions. Only the champion team will be promoted, while the runner-up must win the play-off match to participate in the top level next season.
Vietnamese football, which still has many "bumps and dents" that have been polished to form a professional shape, now has another deformed trend. The effectiveness for each related component and the impact on football, good or bad, cannot be confirmed, but the abnormality is clear.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/du-chuyen-nguoc-doi-khien-bong-da-viet-nam-ky-quac-nhat-the-gioi-ar900696.html
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