In the 2023-2024 season, Thanh Hoa club played well in the National Cup and with a favorable journey, they successfully defended the championship. Also last season, a new tournament was established - the Southeast Asian Club Championship, and will take place for the first time next season.
Therefore, with the V.League and National Cup, the Thanh team has a total of 4 fronts in the 2024-2025 season. Attending international tournaments, of course, they will introduce the image of Vietnamese football to other countries, as well as score points for their country's football on the rankings.
However, coach Velizar Popov's team asked to withdraw from AFC Champions League 2. The reason was "dense schedule". Of course, experts understand that, along with the competition schedule, there are other reasons for Thanh Hoa to make this decision, but even when considering the competition schedule as the main reason, people still feel "why?" there".
For professionals, a club competing on many fronts is an opportunity to practice, especially for young players, because the coach will have to rotate the squad through each match. But with Vietnamese football, rotation is something strange, because up until now, the match schedule has always been extended enough (about 1 week) for the players to recover and the coach to be used again. Use the best possible squad.
That means that opportunities for young players to play as starters continue to be limited, as the team focuses on results rather than the development of young players. But actually, this story raises more questions about the team's potential and ambitions. Suppose, if Hanoi FC wins the National Cup as well as has a place in the Southeast Asian Club Championship, it is difficult to see a withdrawal application, because they are ready to give opportunities to young players.
The story of Vietnamese football is always paradoxical, many teams do not want to... win the championship because they do not have enough potential to play in regional or Asian tournaments. Let people say, winning a championship is fun, but knowing that, don't win a championship to avoid complications.
After all, it still has to come back to how to make money from football, but sponsors alone are not enough.
