Coach Velizar Popov: "Vietnamese football has the wrong mindset about youth training"

Hello Coach Velizar Popov, thank you for accepting the interview. After leaving Thanh Hoa Club, do you have any new plans?

- Yes, of course I do. I will make a decision about my future soon. I will continue working in Vietnam. I am considering the offers I have. When I signed a contract with Thanh Hoa FC and first entered the team's trophy room in December 2022, I only saw 2 old trophies.

I asked the interpreter what those trophies were for. He said they were Fair-play awards. In the first training session, I told the players that for me, Fair-play awards are just consolation prizes for losers who are not capable of winning anything really important.

I promised everyone at the club that I would give my all and do my best to help the team win real trophies. When I leave the club in March 2025, I leave behind 3 titles (2 National Cups and 1 National Super Cup), along with a series of historical records, a top 4 and top 3 position in the V-League at the time of my departure, and a real chance for the team to continue to compete in the leading group.

It is interesting that a talented and individualistic coach like you will continue to be associated with Vietnamese football. On the other hand, known for his modern and attacking football philosophy, to suit the environment and physical condition of Vietnamese players in particular, and Southeast Asia in general, do you have to make any adjustments?

- If I say it's easy, it's not true, but the hardest challenges always bring the sweetest results if the goal is achieved.

Objectively speaking, technically, most Asian players have a pretty good natural foundation. Physically, some players have problems with endurance, which limits their intensity and flexibility in playing. However, that is not the biggest problem I have encountered over the years.

The most important aspect for me, with 12 years working in Asia, is probably the spirit or mentality. We all know that the result is the most important thing and people only care about whether you win or lose. Everyone evaluates and judges your work based on the success you achieve. That is why most young players have a deep-rooted fear of losing from a very early age.

For me, this problem has been, is and will always be the most serious and difficult challenge, because I believe that it is impossible to play football properly if you have the fear of losing. That is a fundamental mistake.

And that is why many coaches, for fear of losing their jobs, have developed a flawed approach to training young players, right from a young age. It is not letting players enjoy the game, creating a fear of making a bad pass or an inaccurate shot, and this creates a defensive mindset that is very difficult to change.

Fear is a normal human emotion that cannot be completely eliminated, but can be controlled and transformed into positive pressure to help players develop and improve every day.

Every real fan goes to the stadium or sits in front of the TV screen to watch beautiful, attractive and effective football, which can only be achieved with attacking and attractive play.

Of course there has to be a balance because in the end the result and the victory is what matters most to the fans. But I have never seen fans come to the stadium just to watch a boring, negative defensive game with 10 players lined up in front of the goal, just waiting for the opportunity to counter-attack or waste time.

That is why every time I take over a new team, my first and foremost goal is to make the players believe in my football philosophy, to believe that I will always take responsibility for the mistakes they make or for every failure. Only when they are confident and no longer afraid of making mistakes can they truly develop their full potential.

So, is psychology the biggest difference between young Vietnamese players in particular, Southeast Asian players in general and players trained in Europe?

- Yes! The biggest difference is the mindset. In Europe, we try to teach young players to enjoy the game and have fun playing football from an early age.

This helps them play with the ball more, which improves their technique and fosters the desire to attack and score goals, all of which automatically builds a winning mindset, because everything is connected. When you always strive to win, you build the spirit of a champion.

Technically, there are many countries in Asia (including Vietnam) that have young players with very good techniques. Physically, there are certain differences, especially due to genetic factors such as height and physique. However, in Vietnam, the difference is not too big because there are also many players with quite good physiques.

The main difference in terms of sporting and technical skills lies in tactical preparation, which in Europe we place a lot of emphasis on between the ages of 16 and 18. When a young player enters the professional first team at the age of 19 or 20, he already has a solid technical and tactical foundation. Other factors such as physical and mental fitness can continue to be developed in the following years.

In your opinion, for a player between the ages of 17 and 20, what are the essential elements to become a top professional player?

- As I mentioned, the most important thing for me is the technical and tactical foundation. Physically and mentally, you can continue to train the player for a few years after that.

But if a player lacks basic technical skills and some basic tactical knowledge, it is almost impossible to reach the highest level later on. There are steps in the youth player development process that you cannot skip or skip. That is the truth.

In Myanmar, youth player development is the biggest problem and also the most difficult challenge. Due to many subjective factors such as political situation, geographical conditions, financial difficulties, etc., youth football organization here is very weak, and that directly affects the development of players in particular and football in general.

Mr. Eric Abrams (Former Technical Director of the Myanmar Football Federation) was the first person to try to reorganize everything in the Myanmar Football Federation during his tenure from 2018 to 2021. However, when he left Myanmar to join PVF, everything here almost completely collapsed.

In fact, Myanmar has many young players with good techniques, especially the children, but unfortunately they do not have good conditions to practice, improve their skills and develop their talents.

This is really a sad story, because the people of Myanmar love football very much, but the pandemic, then the civil war, and now the earthquake, it is really heartbreaking. I feel so sorry for all my friends and students in Myanmar.

In Vietnam, the situation is very different. You have the financial resources to build good training facilities with support from the government. Economically, Vietnam is much stronger. Academies like PVF or Viettel The Cong are great examples that all places in Vietnam should follow. This is the basic foundation, everything must start from building good training conditions.

The next step is a quality coaching staff that can train and educate children, preparing young players to enter the professional football environment.

Unfortunately, there are still many clubs in Vietnam that do not have training facilities or do not organize a proper academy, and this is really sad, because many young talents do not have the opportunity to train in normal conditions, this is something that needs to change as soon as possible.

In your opinion, what is the most important lesson that Vietnamese football can learn from European academies?

- Everything must start from the infrastructure, that is the first basic foundation, just like building a house, you must start from the foundation, not from the roof.

The next step is the quality of the coaches and the training of the coaches who will work in the academy. These coaches are not coaches for professional teams, but they are experts in the field of youth training and grassroots football.

A common mistake is that some youth soccer coaches start teaching tactics to children as young as 10 or 11 years old, when they have no ball control, dribbling, passing or shooting skills. Such coaches are only interested in winning, not really focusing on helping children develop properly.

No one cares whether a coach wins cups or titles at U13/U15/U17 or even U19, what matters is producing quality players for professional football.

The people who need wins, titles and achievements are professional teams, professional coaches and players, not the youth system.

Can you elaborate on the concept of "immediate results" in youth football development in Vietnam?

- This is exactly what I shared before, it is a very wrong and extremely dangerous mindset. In youth football, there can be no pressure for immediate results, because this is a long-term development process, lasting from the age of 10 to 20.

Like I said, no one cares if you win the U17 championship or not, if by the time you're 22-23 you can't play professional football.

The most important thing in youth football, whether at club, academy or national team, is to produce quality players who can play at a professional level. Titles and success at youth level mean nothing if none of the players develop into great players.

What I see in the whole youth training system in Vietnam, everything is focused on results, having to win a match or a tournament at all costs and that will not bring any sustainable development.

In Thailand and Malaysia, where I have worked, I can say they focus more on developing young players, improving skills, improving quality and are less obsessed with winning a game or a tournament at all costs.

How do you evaluate the changes in tactics and development orientation that Vietnamese youth football has been implementing in recent years?

- As I mentioned, in the last 3 years I have watched some national tournaments like U19 and U21. And I clearly see that everything is still focused on the result, regardless of the style of play.

I don't like that way of doing things in youth football. Because the result is that although there are many talented young players, when they step up to the professional team they lack basic techniques and fundamental tactical knowledge.

The reason is that young coaches just yell at their players to win, not to make mistakes, not to be creative, not to "think differently". Such an approach can bring short-term success, for example a youth team wins the national championship, and the club president happily brings the trophy home to put in his office.

But then what? No player from that team was good enough to make it to the first team.
As a result, in that office there were only youth trophies or Fair-play trophies, things that have no value in professional football.

The goal of a youth football academy is to produce professional players for the first team. Of course, you should teach children and young players to always try to win, but not at all costs at this level.

Because this is not professional football, but grassroots football, youth training and at this level, nothing is "at all costs". Results and titles are only important at the professional level, not in youth football.

You are often known as an inspirational and motivating person. How important do you think fighting spirit is compared to technical ability in developing players?

- It's important, but the most important thing is how you build it. You can't focus on fighting spirit when the player can't control the ball, can't stop and pass accurately, can't dribble, can't get past the opponent, or can't shoot in the right direction.

So the most important thing is technique and technical development. The mental aspect will be formed naturally when the player starts playing well, starts winning, then everything will come naturally.

Moreover, the fighting spirit is also a part of the genetics and that is what I really love most about Vietnamese people. The natural spirit, the fire, you have it and that is the big difference between Vietnam and the rest of Southeast Asia.

But again, the fighting spirit or special drive you're talking about is only really important in professional football. In youth football development, technique is the main foundation.

Have you ever had to change your entire tactical system just to give a particular player a chance to shine?

- It depends on the level of competition, the quality of the team and the level of the players.
Many coaches can do that to help their team win and if the only way is to change the whole strategy to help one player shine, then it is still acceptable.

However, the most important thing is that the team wins. The team is always bigger than any individual, whether player or coach.

However, doing so is not easy and not every coach can do it without hurting the ego of the remaining players. So, this is not for everyone and not everyone can do it well.

Last question, if you had to choose one national youth training program to stay with long term, which country would you choose and why?

- In Asia, I would like to go to Japan. It is the country with the best and most professional football system in Asia: Great facilities; young players with very high skills, and the whole Japanese football system has a very good professional mindset.

Thank you for the conversation!

Content: Ngoc Trung

04/23/2025 - 05:08

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/hlv-velizar-popov-bong-da-viet-nam-dang-tu-duy-sai-lam-ve-dao-tao-tre-20250419181352736.htm