In early October 2024, Nguyen Hoang Duc said goodbye to The Cong Viettel Club. He chose Phu Dong Ninh Binh because of the huge "bribe" he would receive. According to many sources, the midfielder born in 1998 received more than 27 billion VND during his time playing for the Ancient Capital team.
However, Hoang Duc will have to play in the First Division for at least 1 season. A part of the fans understand and sympathize with him because "everyone needs money to take care of their family and personal life". The rest, the majority, did not miss the opportunity to criticize the 2023 Vietnam Golden Ball for giving up the V.League.
Commentator Ngo Quang Tung commented: “The number of matches for Hoang Duc to compete and accumulate expertise is not much. The First Division is not an environment suitable for his level, although the media will still follow and mention Duc. The nature of the tournament and the quality will not be able to attract fans, it will affect Hoang Duc's level. Anyway, hopefully everything will pass quickly. Who knows, he will only play for a while and then move to another team.”
The above assumptions are still being evaluated without providing data on Hoang Duc's professional performance and brand influence. In fact, the player from Hai Duong has not played well in recent months. Many people are worried that Hoang Duc's image will be severely affected if he continues to be obscure in the First Division or worse, cannot be promoted next season.
That worry is real. The First Division always has many variables and it is not easy for players from V.League to come down and play “whatever they want”.
In terms of commercial exploitation, Hoang Duc has never had the highest advertising price of the Vietnam National Team. Therefore, the risk of a decline in personal brand becomes even greater. For example, Cong Phuong failed for 2 years in Japan but created a huge impact when playing for Binh Phuoc. This team sold out season tickets in just 15 minutes.
As a producer of sports and entertainment programs, Mr. Ngo Quang Tung added: “There are many other factors that influence, such as the appearance must be more attractive, must have shining moments like Quang Hai or simply like Cong Phuong. These are media products. Hoang Duc is very good in terms of expertise but his social and media influence is not the strongest brand. Compared to Quang Hai, Tien Dung or some Hoang Anh Gia Lai players, it is not as good.”
From his personal perspective, Hoang Duc needs to understand that he will have to make many trade-offs. But once he accepts the risk, this player must double, triple his efforts on the field to maintain his image.
Cong Phuong is often the subject of jokes on social media, but unintentionally helps him maintain an appeal that no other player can match. For Hoang Duc, the midfielder's brand is the quality of his football and his "cleanliness" on social media. Maintaining this in the First Division is not easy at all.
