Escape from poor football team
Previously, the Thai Nguyen women's football team had to "survive" precariously due to limited funding. The players' income was only 1.5 million VND/month, and participating in the national championship had to rely on support from the organizing committee. In 2019, the team almost disbanded.
However, up to this point, when mentioning Thai Nguyen women's football, many people jokingly say: "That team is now very rich, the players' income is in the top compared to the general level of the whole country, comparable to the Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City teams".
The story of Thai Nguyen women's football team escaping poverty began in 2019, when the team was about to disband due to lack of funds to maintain the team. But they met a lifesaver in Mr. Hien.
“In 2019, through the press, we learned that Thai Nguyen women's football was facing many difficulties. Due to low income, many players gave up their passion to work as factory workers. That is also the reason why we paid attention to the team, with the first sponsorship period being 5 years," said Mr. Do Vinh Quang - Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and Deputy General Director of T&T Group.
At that time, the initial income of a female player in Thai Nguyen was from 1.5-2 million/month, while the regional minimum wage in Thai Nguyen was 3,250,000 VND.
Captain Tran Thi Thuy Nga met with Mr. Do Vinh Quang to discuss, saying that the salary is not enough for daily living expenses. Besides, the female players also need to spend on health food and some other cosmetics such as sunscreen, makeup, etc.
"After research, we raised the salary for players to a minimum of 6 million VND/month, and key players from 10 million VND/month or more. We consider this salary to be directly competitive with the average salary of workers in the locality. In the near future, players will no longer quit football to work as workers," said Mr. Do Vinh Quang.
Create more milestones
After the milestone, the female players returned to the team, promising not to quit their jobs if they were guaranteed a personal life and could take care of their families.
In 2022, Thai Nguyen T&T Club continued to cause shock when creating an unprecedented thing, which is paying transfer fees for female players. Accordingly, the first two players to receive transfer fees when playing for the team were Nguyen Thi My Anh (fee of 500 million VND) and Le Hoai Luong (fee of 400 million VND).
Recently, they continued to sign contracts with 3 Vietnamese players: Tran Thi Kim Thanh, Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy and Tran Thi Thu. The total transfer fee is about 1.7 billion VND. This is good news for Vietnamese women's football in the direction of professionalization.
Once relieved of the worries of making a living, Thai Nguyen T&T's achievements also increased day by day.
“Work in 2020 and 2021 was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. After that, our joy came from small matches, although the plan to enter the top 3 was not completed. In 2022, the team defeated Vietnam Minerals for the first time, drawing with Ho Chi Minh City I. In the 2023 season, the team also defeated Phong Phu Ha Nam for the first time.
My higher vision is to help Thai Nguyen T&T compete fairly with big rivals like Ho Chi Minh City I and Hanoi I. However, they have a long history, achievements and a core force of the national team. These teams are both rivals and models for Thai Nguyen to learn from.
After having new contracts, I expect Thai Nguyen to compete for medals in tournaments in 2024 and possibly win the championship in the next 3 years," Mr. Do Vinh Quang expressed his wish.
Not only did Thai Nguyen T&T play better in the national championship, they also contributed human resources to the national team - this is once again unprecedented.
Before the 32nd SEA Games, coach Mai Duc Chung called up 4 female players from Thai Nguyen T&T and then My Anh and Thuy Nga were kept to compete.
In addition, Thai Nguyen T&T also has 3 key players in the Vietnam U20 team, notably Ngoc Minh Chuyen - who just won the Outstanding Young Player award at the 2023 Golden Ball gala.
Hopefully with this "transformation", Thai Nguyen T&T football club will contribute more to the development of Vietnamese women's football.
