The first division used to be as popular as the V-League 22 years ago, when Thai star Kiatisak agreed to play for HAGL Club. In 2002, HAGL caused a big surprise by signing Kiatisak. In addition to Kiatisak, Mr. Duc also recruited Thai player Chukiat. This duo created a fever with Vietnamese audiences in the first division that year and brought HAGL Club to the V-League in the 2003 season.
However, since then, the national first division has not had many changes and has received little attention. In recent years, the tournament has always encountered difficulties because there are not enough teams to compete due to funding issues. Typically, right before the 2024-2025 season, the teams of Dong Nai, Khanh Hoa, Long An, and Ba Ria-Vung Tau seemed to "give up the game" for many different reasons, causing the tournament to almost fall into a deadlock and not be able to take place as desired. However, in the end, the above teams all found a solution so the tournament still took place as planned, even though there were only 11 teams instead of 12 as expected.
Van Lam had a successful debut in the Ninh Binh First Division Club shirt.
Despite facing many difficulties, the first division exploded afterwards with "blockbuster" contracts that were even more resounding than the V-League. First, Ninh Binh Club signed contracts with a series of national players or former national players. Among them, the two most prominent faces are goalkeeper Dang Van Lam and midfielder Nguyen Hoang Duc. Only counting domestic players, perhaps Ninh Binh team is even more powerful than some teams playing in the V-League. Therefore, the fact that this team just eliminated Ho Chi Minh City Club in the National Cup qualifying round by a penalty shootout on October 20 is not too surprising.
Not only Ninh Binh Club, Binh Phuoc team is also not far behind when successfully recruiting striker Cong Phuong, a player who always receives the attention of fans. Many people think that Binh Phuoc Club signing a contract with Cong Phuong is no different from... Inter Miami Club playing in the US Major League Soccer (MLS) signing a contract with Messi. Because as soon as they owned Cong Phuong, Binh Phuoc team announced that all 4,200 tickets for the 2024-2025 season were sold out in just 15 minutes on October 7, earning more than 1 billion VND.
Obviously, with the competition of these two “big” teams, along with other ambitious teams such as PVF-CAND, Hoa Binh… the first division this season has created a special attraction that is not inferior to the V-League. This will make Vietnamese football more worth watching this season.
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