The absolute dominance of Nam Dinh
Nam Dinh Club successfully defended its championship title in V.League 2024-2025. It is worth mentioning that coach Vu Hong Viet and his team were convincingly crowned with impressive numbers.
Although the start was not very smooth when they lost to Hong Linh Ha Tinh, along with some somewhat shaky periods due to the absence of Xuan Son, the team from Thanh Nam had a memorable season.
The defending champion this season scored 51 goals and 5 more than the team behind, Hanoi. In particular, there were up to 17 Nam Dinh players who scored, the most of whom were Xuan Son, Ly Cong Hoang Anh, Caio Cesar, Brenner, Van Toan, Van Dat, Van Vi...
In addition, despite having a not-so-class defense, Nam Dinh conceded the least goal in V.League when they lost by only 18 goals, 2 goals less than Hong Linh Ha Tinh.
Runner-up of V.League last season relegated
In V.League 2023-2024, Binh Dinh club won the runner-up position with 47 points, 6 points behind champion Nam Dinh and 4 points ahead of the 3rd-placed team Hanoi FC.
However, financial difficulties from sponsors, combined with the departure of key players and stars, the 2024-2025 season witnessed a significant decline for the team from the land of Vo.
In fact, Binh Dinh did not have a bad start. In the first rounds, they still maintained their position in the midfield group, while Da Nang continuously ranked at the bottom of the table. However, during the decisive return period, the continuous competition underperforming and lack of cohesion caused the Quy Nhon home team to continuously lose to directly competitors and had to receive a ticket to relegation.
Hong Linh Ha Tinh sets a surprising record
In V.League 2024-2025, Hong Linh Ha Tinh is the only team unbeaten after the first leg with 3 wins and 10 draws. This achievement helped the Central region representative become the 3rd team in the history of V.League to do this, after Song Lam Nghe An ( losing the first leg in 2012, 4 wins, 9 draws) and Hanoi FC ( losing the first leg in 2018, 11 wins, 2 draws).
In addition, coach Nguyen Thanh Cong and his team also dethroned Song Lam Nghe An to become the club with the most draws in a season with 15 matches, 1 match more than the Nghe An team in the 2012 season.
The upheaval on the coaching bench of football teams
The 2024-2025 season witnessed changes on the coaching bench of football teams.
Accordingly, Hanoi club parted ways with coach Le Duc Tuan right before the Lunar New Year to appoint Japanese coach Makoto Teguramori. Mr. Tuan then moved to lead SHB Da Nang to replace his predecessor Cristiano Roland.
In addition, in the final period of the season, Binh Duong also appointed new captain Nguyen Anh Duc after parting ways with coach Nguyen Cong Manh. Previously, Mr. Manh was chosen to sit in the "hot seat" instead of coach Hoang Anh Tuan because his achievements were not guaranteed.
At Thanh Hoa club, coach Velizar Popov also left after a series of draws and losses, giving the position to Mr. Tomislav Steinbruckner. After that, the Bulgarian strategist became head coach of The Cong Viettel, replacing his predecessor Nguyen Duc Thang.
In addition, in Binh Dinh, there was also a change in the upper levels when coach Tran Minh Chien led the team in the final matches, and Mr. Bui Doan Quang Huy became the Technical Director.
Referee work
For the first time in history, all matches in one round of the V.League are applied by VAR. More comfortably, the video assistant to support the referee was present continuously throughout the season. Even in important matches in the First Division, VAR also appeared to ensure fairness.
However, throughout the 10-month season, refereeing mistakes ranged from average to serious. In particular, referee Le Vu Linh has caused the press and clubs to spend more ink than any.
Mr. Linh's inaccurate decisions in the match between Thanh Hoa and Ho Chi Minh City in round 13 caused a stir in public opinion. The Thanh team itself has continuously sent complaints to VPF and VFF about the mistakes that referee Le Vu Linh made.
Finally, VFF itself provided information about the inaccurate decisions of this "king in black". Also because the quality of VAR referees and referees is still controversial, at the end of the season, VPF had to invite a series of foreign referees to score for matches that directly affect the championship and relegation race of V.League.
Even if the quality of foreign referees is not much better than domestically, VPF is still forced to spend a lot of money to ensure the objectivity in the competition mentality of the teams.
