This is a policy that has been applied by Vietnamese football leaders for decades and has resulted in significant success. Of course, Vietnam has never been more successful with coach Park Hang-seo, the Korean coach brought the Vietnamese team to the Asian Cup after 12 years in his first participation as host.
And instead of being in the UAE to round up the numbers, Mr. Park's team played with a completely different mindset, confidence, maturity and courage. That attitude was shown right from the opening match against Iraq when the Vietnam National Team took the lead twice and only lost to the 2007 Asian Cup champion in the final minutes.
For that reason, despite a 0-2 defeat to the championship candidate Iran, the Vietnam team defeated Yemen with the same score to enter the round of 16 as one of the third-placed teams with the best results in the group stage.
"Mr. Park is one of the most successful foreign coaches with our Vietnam National Team in many years," VFF President Le Khanh Hai shared with FIFA.com, after the end of the group stage. "Under his leadership, the national championship competed with great determination and achieved remarkable achievements."
Foreign coach policy
The Vietnamese team first participated in the World Cup qualifiers in 1994, when there were only 1 win in 8 matches. However, despite the failure, the 1994 World Cup helped VFF realize that they needed a long-term development strategy. And there is nothing more effective and reasonable than this period and then the foreign coaching policy, which began with German coach Karl Heinz Weigang in 1995.
"We realize that it is necessary to rise up to become a developed football foundation to learn from the countries with developed football foundations," Mr. Hai recalled. "Therefore, we invited Coach Weigang and he has come to Vietnam."
Under the leadership of the veteran German coach, the Vietnam National Team has made new breakthroughs, finishing 3rd at the 1996 Tiger Cup. Then there was Alfred Riedl, the Austrian coach who took Vietnam to the final in 1998, before Portuguese coach Henrique Calisto appeared in 2002. These two coaches have had significant successes, in which Riedl led Vietnam to the quarter-finals of the 2007 Asian Cup, while Coach Calisto led the team to the 2008 AFF Cup for the first time.
And Mr. Park was the most successful. Under his leadership, U23 Vietnam reached the 2018 U23 Asian Cup finals, while the DTQG won the 2018 AFF Cup. In addition, Vietnamese football will also be present at the 2017 U20 World Cup.
"Winning the AFF Championship twice is the foundation for Vietnamese football to develop," Mr. Hai continued. "It brings motivation and encouragement, as well as joy to the fans. Success brings national pride and that is thanks to the attention of all levels, especially the Prime Minister who always wants and supports the development of Vietnamese football.
In fact, from cooperation with foreign coaches, Vietnamese football has learned professionalism, caution and tightness in coaching. What we have gained is not only the tactical and technical aspects but also the psychological and nutritional aspects.
The important thing is that Vietnamese football has shared those experiences with domestic coaches through technical seminars to improve the quality of the National Championship and National Championship.
Foreign coaches of the Vietnam national team
Karl Heinz Weigang 1995-97
Alfred Riedl 1998-2000 2003, 2005 2007
Henrique Calisto 2002, 2008 2011
Edson Tavares 1995, 2004
Toshiya Miura 2014 2016
Park Hang-seo 2017
