National football development strategy
Currently, football is the only sport in Vietnam that has a development strategy. In 2013, the Vietnam Football Development Strategy to 2020, with a vision to 2030, was approved by the Prime Minister and put into implementation. In the current period, the sports industry continues to develop the Vietnam Football Development Strategy Project to 2030, with a vision to 2045, and then submits it to the management level for review before approval.
In the Vietnam Football Development Strategy to 2020, with a vision to 2030, the specific goals are: “Innovate and perfect the system of selecting and training football talents; combine training of the next generation of athletes to create resources for professional football clubs and national teams; Develop high-performance football in a professional direction; Build the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and its member organizations into strong organizations, capable of undertaking the management and organization of most of the country's football activities; Develop technical facilities for football activities, ready to host continental and world football tournaments; Form and expand the football business and service market, and the football player transfer market; Develop Vietnamese football, become one of the leading centers in the region and continent, by 2030 be in the top 10 countries with developed football in Asia".
We won the 2024 ASEAN Cup for men's football. The women's football team participated in the 2023 FIFA World Cup. These are the two most recent professional results that fans have paid attention to at the national team level.
In his opinion, football expert Pham Ngoc Vien believes that Vietnamese football still needs solutions for sustainable development. Because the national teams are a synthesis of the best people from the football teams. Only when the teams have good expertise, possess sustainable resources to develop and train many successive generations of highly qualified players, will the national football team choose good players to focus on.
Regarding professional development, football expert Pham Ngoc Vien analyzed that one of the important contents is the need for a youth football development program. “A youth football development program with goals, development philosophy, competition philosophy and enough human resources for young coaches with Asian Football Confederation qualifications will train good athletes.
In particular, the athlete training environment needs a training program, medical care conditions, nutrition for athletes, and cultural and ethical education for athletes. The training assessment system plays an important role with pedagogical, psychological, and professional tests, along with training materials and training diaries of coaches, which are factors that determine the performance and pace of athlete performance development," Mr. Pham Ngoc Vien believes that this is a strategic direction.
What is the right way?
At the Conference on the implementation of the Strategy for the Development of Vietnam's Sports and Physical Training to 2030, with a vision to 2045, the General Secretary of the Vietnam Football Federation - Mr. Nguyen Van Phu specifically expressed in his report when he saw some limitations that need to be changed. "There is not really a consistent and drastic direction in football activities. The work of selecting and training young football talents, at football teams, has many different points due to many reasons regarding human resources and technical equipment, leading to a lack of connection between the lines, the next generation of athletes to create a source for professional football teams and Vietnam's national football teams...", one of the views reported by Mr. Nguyen Van Phu.
All football teams in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines... have been actively investing to change their skin every year. For Vietnam, this year Vietnamese football will mark the milestone of the National Football Tournament entering the professional system 25 years (2000 - 2025).
Over the past 25 years, professionals from coaches, players to managers from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to the Department of Physical Training and Sports and the Vietnam Football Federation have witnessed many changes and innovations in Vietnamese football. However, we are still looking for more solutions to the problem of how to do it or what investment is appropriate to help Vietnamese football develop better.
In the early stages, Vietnamese sports only set a modest goal of winning the SEA Games Gold Medal and winning the AFF Cup (the predecessor of the ASEAN Cup). Those two goals were conquered by Vietnamese football. Now, Vietnamese football is aiming for a higher goal of participating in the World Cup.
A representative of the Vietnam Football Federation said that in order to continue developing Vietnamese football in the right direction and soon achieve the set goals in the next stages, the Vietnam Football Federation has determined to focus on organizing a comprehensive assessment of the implementation of the Vietnam Football Development Strategy to 2020, with a vision to 2030.
Based on the data and reality of Vietnamese football, experts and managers carefully consider adding and adjusting strategic solution groups in the project of Vietnam Football Development Strategy to 2030, vision to 2045, but must continue to closely follow the tasks and solutions of the Vietnam Sports Development Strategy to 2030, vision to 2045.
In his opinion, General Secretary Nguyen Van Phu said that many solutions to further improve the quality of Vietnamese football achievements have been proposed, but all are done step by step to create sustainability. "Focus on promoting the training of young players with good physical strength, expertise, courage, and experience in domestic and international competitions, especially investing in players from 17 to 20 years old (as of 2023). When the time comes to organize the FIFA World Cup 2030, 2034, the above generation of players will be from 24 to 28 years old. This is the best time for a player to develop for top-level football", General Secretary Nguyen Van Phu analyzed.
Along with that, the Vietnamese football management will focus on implementing a roadmap to deploy a number of key projects on youth football training. From 2025 onwards, the project to build a competition system along with investment in science and technology will be carefully developed to achieve practical value. "The pilot construction of a Center, Science - Sports Medicine serving football and replication at professional football organizations will be implemented," General Secretary Nguyen Van Phu added about the key tasks and solutions to improve Vietnam's football achievements.
