Scepticism and anxiety are understandable. A team with a main student population, will it be able to compete with teams with investment and experience in the opening match? Van Hien University does not have a specialized youth training force, no academy, does not own a separate training ground and is not in the management system of a locality or large enterprise. The shortcomings are real, there are too many worries and countless steep slopes when entering the new journey.
But it is there that the story of Van Hien University becomes different and valuable. They will still carry the "student spirit" - strong but pure, but at the same time aim to affirm that school football is an important element of Vietnamese football. They play with the belief that the dream of football can be nurtured from the lectures, that players do not have to come from strict training facilities or a closed selection system.
The presence of Van Hien University in the First Division may not change the situation of professional football immediately, but it is a signal for a path that experts have long said. The path goes from the grassroots, from the community, from the educational environment. While Vietnamese football needs to rebuild from the roots, students' footsteps can lay the foundation for a more long-term, sustainable development strategy: Connecting education and sports, knowledge and skills, humanity and aspiration.
Maybe, they will have to struggle in the harsh reality of the professional pitch to get the energy to go up and down. But still, they are pioneers - and in sports, pioneers always deserve to be respected.
