On the occasion of the new spring of At Ty 2025, Dan Tri reporter talked with a person who has closely followed the movements of domestic football in the past year, to better understand a year of continuous activities of Vietnamese football, on the journey to success.
That person is Vice President of Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), President of Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF), Head of the national team delegation at AFF Cup 2024, Mr. Tran Anh Tu. 
VFF Vice President, Head of Vietnam National Team at AFF Cup 2024, Mr. Tran Anh Tu (second from left) next to the Southeast Asian Gold Cup (Photo: Huong Duong).
The arduous but successful journey of the old year
Looking back at Vietnamese football in 2024, what are the notable highlights, sir?
- 2024 is a year of overcoming difficulties for Vietnamese football with some main features, the first of which is foreign affairs, when the Standing Committee of the 9th VFF Executive Committee continues to focus on expanding relations and promoting its role in international football organizations.
On that basis, VFF's foreign affairs and international relations activities continue to be implemented effectively and proactively, with support from the regional Football Federations (AFF), the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and FIFA, as well as close connections on the basis of cooperative and mutually developing relationships with national football federations.
VFF was awarded the Community Youth Football Award at the AFC Annual Awards Ceremony. The national teams also made efforts and most of them fulfilled their targets. Specifically, the men's futsal team won the Southeast Asian silver medal, the women's futsal team won the Southeast Asian gold medal, U23 Vietnam entered the quarter-finals of the U23 Asian Championship, U17 Vietnam won the right to participate in the 2025 U17 Asian Championship finals...
2024 is a successful year for Vietnamese football (Photo: Huong Duong).
What about the changes in the domestic tournament system, what is new in the domestic tournament compared to before?
- 2024 is a year that bears the mark of national professional football tournaments (PFF) on the path to completion and development to keep up with the trends of modern football in the world. The change from organizing competitions according to the "squeezing" model to 2 years, to the widespread dissemination of VAR technology and synchronization of many other aspects related to the tournament image, has brought the V-League to new heights...
As for VAR technology, this technology has been widely applied, with at least 6 matches per round having VAR, many rounds applying VAR in 7/7 matches. After VAR was used, the controversy over refereeing issues has decreased, the professional quality of the tournament has increased, creating trust for participating clubs and fans nationwide.
2024 is also a successful year in the international field with Vietnam's international referees and supervisors (male and female) being trusted by FIFA, AFC, AFF to perform duties in many official tournaments, such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers - Group E, Futsal World Cup, the final round (VCK) of the Asian U17 and U20 women's tournament... This is the result of VFF's efforts to improve the quality of referee training, as well as the efforts of each referee.
Serious preparation of the Vietnam team, based on the direction of VFF
Also in 2024, the brightest achievement of Vietnamese football is the AFF Cup championship. What is the main reason for our success, sir?
- First, the preparation plan is detailed, serious and thorough for the tournament. Regarding professional work, after realizing that coach Kim Sang Sik did not have enough time to get acquainted with the players and build the team's lineup and playing style.
The reason is that the team will only gather for a short time during the FIFA Days (a series of days when national teams around the world are on international duty, according to the competition schedule set by FIFA) in June, September and October, and also based on the AFF's decision to adjust the AFF Cup 2024 competition schedule from mid-November to December 8.
VFF has discussed with coach Kim Sang Sik and agreed on a plan not to gather during FIFA Days in November, but to focus more time on preparing for the AFF Cup.
The Vietnamese team has adjusted its training schedule right before the AFF Cup (Photo: Tien Tuan).
And has the change in the way the team gathers during the last days of the year brought about high efficiency?
- In fact, this was a very correct decision, because it helped maintain the players' rhythm and form through the competition in the V-League. At the same time, the Vietnamese team used the FIFA Days break in November to make up for the training session before the AFF Cup.
This will help the coaching staff have more time to utilize and perfect their personnel, stabilize their lineup and playing style, and aim to successfully achieve the set goal of striving to reach the finals of the regional arena.
The training camp in Korea during this period also plays an important role in preparing the team, especially in improving physical strength and technical tactics, through playing against quality teams in the K-League.
Coach Kim Sang Sik is considered to have applied reasonable and flexible tactics, suitable for each opponent, helping the Vietnamese team build a solid foundation and develop an effective playing style for the team. The players all showed a high spirit of solidarity and determination. This is also an important factor helping the Vietnamese team achieve success.
On this occasion, VFF also thanks the fans for their support. This is a source of motivation for the team, helping the players always enter the field with the highest spirit. In addition, there is the attention from the media, which not only helps spread information about the matches and activities of the team, but also creates a strong connection between the team and the fans.
Timely adjustments
Regarding the V-League having to stop so that players can focus on the national team for the AFF Cup 2024, how difficult is this, and how have domestic clubs supported the national team?
- The schedule of national professional football tournaments is always built by VFF and VPF based on the annual competition plan of the national team, based on the time fund to organize a professional season. All are aimed at ensuring the best for the national team, while being harmonious and balanced with the interests of the clubs.
The 2023-2024 season is the first season to start changing the time frame for organizing professional tournaments, in sync with Asian and world tournaments. The change in the time frame for organizing tournaments has received high consensus from the clubs, bringing many advantages for the development of football in general and the national team in particular.
The tournament organization plan is linked together and integrated with the time frame of international tournaments, also contributing to improving the professional quality of the team in each training session...
The result of the adjustment from VFF is the AFF Cup 2024 championship for the Vietnamese team (Photo: Huong Duong).
Does this mean that the adjustment of the domestic tournament schedule did not come naturally, and that this adjustment was carefully researched and discussed?
- Right from the 2023-2024 season, VPF has prepared different scenarios related to the 2024-2025 season schedule, including a break for the team to focus on the 2024 AFF Cup.
The temporary suspension of domestic professional football tournaments certainly causes no small amount of difficulty for clubs. However, this is also considered a necessary break for teams to practice, adjust their forces, and aim for the goals of the teams, when domestic professional tournaments have only gone through about 1/3 of the way of the 2024-2025 season.
VPF has always received high consensus from the clubs. From the conference to deploy preparations for the 2024-2025 season (April 2024), with the participation of all clubs, the contents related to the season's competition schedule were discussed, ensuring the construction of the best competition plan for both the interests of the clubs and the achievements of the national team.
Training is still the core to develop Vietnamese football.
After the success of naturalized striker Nguyen Xuan Son in the Vietnam national team, there have been many questions about the use of naturalized players for the national team in the future. What is your opinion and that of the VFF on the issue of naturalized players for the national team?
- In my personal opinion, using naturalized players brings diversity and strengthens the team. Naturalized players like Nguyen Xuan Son and Nguyen Filip have proven that they can devote themselves to the Vietnam team.
In fact, they not only contribute to the success of the team, they also receive a lot of love from the majority of Vietnamese football fans. The use of naturalized and multi-national players is a common trend in world football.
Naturalized player Nguyen Xuan Son contributed to the success of the Vietnamese team at the AFF Cup 2024 (Photo: Manh Quan).
This happens in countries with developed football in Europe such as France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Croatia, and in top Asian teams such as Japan, Qatar, UAE, Australia...
Not separate from the general trend, but we will also have our own direction?
- In Southeast Asia, the trend of using naturalized players has become stronger in recent years, especially in Indonesia. The most noticeable thing is that naturalized players help improve the quality of the team and create healthy competition, as well as motivate domestic players to strive to develop further. At the same time, naturalized players also bring cultural and spiritual values…
The success of Nguyen Xuan Son at the AFF Cup has proven that naturalized players can bring positive values, contributing to the overall success of the Vietnamese team. VFF's professional departments are still monitoring and searching for overseas Vietnamese talents, or those with Vietnamese nationality, who can contribute to the team and bring new successes.
However, VFF still considers youth training and national tournament development as the most important. If we use too many naturalized players, youth training will be affected. We cannot rely solely on naturalized players.
Naturalized players must be used reasonably and in moderation, and importantly, they must have worthy talent and a spirit of dedication for the Vietnamese national team.
Towards stable growth in the new year
Regarding the key tasks of Vietnamese football in 2025, what will the VFF determine those tasks to be, sir?
- 2025 is a very busy year for Vietnamese football. The national teams will compete in official international tournaments at the regional and continental levels, including the 33rd SEA Games. The first goal is to maintain achievements in the region.
With the love of our fans, we are not allowed to fail, although we know that maintaining this achievement is not easy. This year, the Vietnamese team will participate in the 3rd qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup, the U23 Vietnam team will participate in the 33rd SEA Games, the Vietnamese women's football team will participate in the Asian qualifying round, the Southeast Asian Championship (expected) and the 33rd SEA Games.
2025 is a busy year for Vietnamese football and coach Kim Sang Sik (Photo: Do Minh Quan).
In addition, the Vietnamese women's futsal team competes in the Asian qualifying round, with the goal of winning the right to enter the final round, participating in the 33rd SEA Games, the Vietnamese men's futsal team participates in the Asian futsal qualifying round, the 33rd SEA Games...
The youth teams participate in Southeast Asian youth tournaments, the Vietnam U17 team prepares for the 2025 AFC U17 Championship. To better prepare the youth teams in the next phase, VFF continues to review the force, foster expertise, so that the players can compete, mature, and develop their individual potential in the future.
In addition, VFF continues to focus on investing in further upgrading the quality of domestic football tournaments, from professional to non-professional systems, because this is a very important foundation for Vietnamese football.
Regarding the SEA Games campaign, the preparation time frame for the Vietnam U23 team before the SEA Games is similar to the preparation time frame for the national team before the AFF Cup 2024. Do we consider the possibility of suspending the V-League before and during the SEA Games, as was done for the AFF Cup?
- As mentioned above, preparation plays a very important role when we participate in any tournament. The preparation plan for the SEA Games has also been proactively built by VFF and Coach Kim Sang Sik very early, in which the most obvious is the call-up of many players in the age group for the SEA Games to the national team during the FIFA Days in 2024.
Most recently, in September 2024, the Vietnam U22 team was also given the opportunity to gather, train and participate in an international friendly tournament in China. Next, in the preparation process for the AFF Cup 2024, young players with the potential to become the core of the SEA Games squad were also allowed to gather and train with the team.
This list includes players such as goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien, midfielder Khuat Van Khang, Nguyen Van Truong, Tran Bao Toan, Nguyen Thai Son, striker Nguyen Dinh Bac, Nguyen Quoc Viet, Bui Vi Hao. Among them, there are players who will even play in the AFF Cup 2024 such as Khuat Van Khang, Bui Vi Hao. They have performed very well.
Along with the preparation of the force, VFF will continue to closely coordinate with VPF in arranging the competition schedule for the 2025 season, on the principle of ensuring the best for the team and harmonizing and balancing the interests of the clubs. Basically, the U22 team will continue to be given the opportunity to train at the same time as the national team's FIFA Days.
What does VFF expect from Coach Kim Sang Sik? Apart from the goals in Southeast Asia, do we aim for higher levels than performing at the 2027 Asian Cup and aiming for a ticket to the 2030 World Cup, sir?
- We will aim to reach the third qualifying round of the 2030 World Cup. The long-term plan is to enter the top 10 in Asia.
However, to realize the goal, many factors must converge. First, financial resources must be guaranteed. Second, creating stability and developing national tournaments, especially V-League, which provides the best players for the team.
Third, we must continue to build quality successor resources for the Vietnam national team, through effective investment in training and development of youth teams, while improving the quality of youth football training and coaching at clubs. Fourth, football facilities must be good enough to ensure training and competition activities.
Thank you for the conversation!
Dantri.com.vn
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