Yesterday afternoon (September 6), coach Nguyen Van Dan and the coaching staff and players of Quang Ninh FC entered Can Tho and were solemnly welcomed by Can Tho City leaders.
From this point on, in the national professional football league, the name "Quang Ninh FC" is no longer there, replaced by the name "Can Tho Steel Football Club".
Once again, Quang Ninh football has to say goodbye to the professional arena due to lack of funding.
Once, Than Quang Ninh dissolved when playing in the V-League. And this time, Quang Ninh FC was rebuilt from the Third Division, going straight to the First Division and finally transferred to Can Tho.
Two times, two generations of teams, but behind it is still an old story: professional football cannot live by love and aspiration without a sufficiently solid financial foundation.
Quang Ninh football once had years that made the entire V-League admire. Than Quang Ninh is not only a traditional team of the Coal Region but also once became a real force on Vietnamese football.
The team had seasons competing for the championship, had a ticket to the AFC Cup, had a "hotpot" Cam Pha that was always bustling and had a fan base that was among the most enthusiastic in the country. But then everything closed.
In the 2021 season, financial problems were very clearly revealed when the largest sponsor, Vietnam National Coal - Mineral Industries Holding Corporation Limited (TKV), withdrew. Players were owed salaries, bonuses and contract amounts.
It is worth mentioning that Than Quang Ninh at that time was not a weak team. On the contrary, they still played very well.
A team with a history from 1956, once returning to the V-League in 2014, once competing with the strongest teams in Vietnam, finally had to leave the game because they no longer had enough strength to feed the team.
After Than Quang Ninh disappeared, football in the coal mining land fell into a prolonged void. Cam Pha Stadium is deserted of professional teams. Players who once wore Than Quang Ninh jerseys are gradually finding new destinations. Fans no longer have a team representing the locality to wait for every weekend.
In 2024, a local enterprise established Quang Ninh Football Development Joint Stock Company, built Quang Ninh FC and brought the team back to the national football system from the Third Division. The new team is identified as the representative of Quang Ninh football and aims to gradually return to the highest playground.
Right in the first season, Quang Ninh FC won the right to play in the Second Division in 2025. In 2025, the team continued to make a strong impression in the Second Division. Quang Ninh FC is unbeaten all season, winning 8 matches and drawing 2 matches, leading Group A with 26 points and winning the right to play in the First Division in the 2026-2027 season.
But then history repeated itself.
In early September 2026, information that made Quang Ninh fans regretful appeared: the team will not continue to stay in Dat Mo due to lack of funds.
For many consecutive days, fans called on Quang Ninh to keep the team and that Quang Ninh is a rich locality, why can't they afford to raise a team, even though they still know they cannot use state budget money to sponsor the club.
And finally, the Quang Ninh team was transferred and renamed Can Tho Steel.
On September 4, Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF) confirmed that Quang Ninh Club changed its name, logo and stadium. The team moved its operating location to Can Tho, renamed it Can Tho Steel, and used Can Tho stadium as its home stadium in the 2026-2027 season.
Before leaving Quang Ninh for Can Tho, Quang Ninh fans organized a farewell ceremony with coach Nguyen Van Dan and his team. A farewell that perhaps no one wants to witness. Two times losing the team, an unsolved problem.
