Vice President of the Vietnam Football Federation - Tran Anh Tu 3 times as head of delegation in 2025 helped the Vietnamese National Team, U23/U22 Vietnam win the championship. This is a predestined relationship that not everyone can have in just 1 year. How did you receive those victories?
- After each championship win, there is overflowing joy, intense emotions and great pride in Vietnamese football. Although I still share the joy with the team, with everyone around me, but with my responsibility, I always try to control everything so as not to exceed the allowed framework, especially in ensuring the image of the team, maintaining security and safety for the whole team until the end of the task.
Which tournament left you with the most memories? What is the decision that you think has a big impact on the whole team when you take on the role of team leader?
- Each tournament leaves unforgettable memories, especially in the 3 finals. The U23 final at the Southeast Asian tournament held in Indonesia showed me the clear maturity of the players in terms of competitive psychology. In the first 3 matches, the young players still revealed certain psychological worries, but by the final, everything was completely different. That is the calmness maintained throughout the match, even when under great pressure from the host Indonesia.
The SEA Games final also left me with a deep impression of the rare fighting spirit of young men who are very gentle in everyday life, when they have to face disadvantages that seem difficult to overcome. I always tell you that I absolutely believe in the team, no matter what difficulties they encounter, they can overcome them, and that continues to be shown by the players in the matches at the 2026 AFC U23 Championship finals held in Saudi Arabia.
The ASEAN Cup 2024 is definitely a tournament with many memories. The team has to move continuously, at times just finished playing in the evening and had to go to the airport early the next morning, causing a lot of fatigue. Logistics work faces many difficulties when ensuring accommodation and convenient movement for the whole team, training and competition equipment is always fully equipped, along with a very large amount of medical work but no errors are allowed. The force is damaged by injuries, the performance of some players is declining while the pressure on achievements is increasingly heavy. When Nguyen Xuan Son took the field to play, the positive atmosphere spreading in the team helped us somewhat reduce the pressure. Because of Son's great influence, his injury in the second leg final made everyone worried. However, for me personally, sitting in the stands among many officials of the home team, I still maintain my belief that the team will overcome disadvantages and win the championship, because this team is a unified and solid bloc.
And when talking about decisions that are considered to have a major impact on the team in the role of Head of Delegation, it is not easy to evaluate, because the team's achievements are the result of many combined factors. To fulfill the role of Head of Delegation well, it is necessary to have enough prestige to create trust from everyone, and at the same time be able to handle non-professional issues such as player psychology or backstage situations arising. For example, at SEA Games 33, many players had families coming to watch the final match but did not have tickets to the stadium, such as the case of Dinh Bac's family with more than 20 people. If this problem is not resolved, player psychology will definitely be affected while VFF cannot intervene. With many different options, we have handled it satisfactorily so that the whole team can be assured to play.
Similarly, in the first leg of the ASEAN Cup 2024 final in Phu Tho, the ticket demand of players is very large while the number of invitation tickets is limited. In my position as Head of the delegation, I have completely resolved it so that everyone can focus as much as possible on the match.
When taking on this task, it can be seen that the pressures he faces seem more direct in his management role at the top level, because he is the person who directly accompanies the coaching staff and players in each match. So, when directly managing the team's work both on and off the field, what difficulties did he face?
- It must be said that in each tournament, the logistics work of the Federation is deployed very well, thanks to which most professional activities for the team take place smoothly. Members of the logistics and medical teams always work actively, proactively and effectively. This helps me significantly reduce the workload, limiting the need to handle arising situations.
The biggest difficulty for me often falls at times when the team has players injured or have psychological problems. At that time, I have to discuss and find solutions with the coaching staff to ensure the overall stability of the team. Besides, in the national team, players have many different social relationships. Therefore, I need to grasp information in a timely manner to proactively handle it when necessary, avoiding these relationships from affecting the team and especially not negatively impacting the players themselves.
2026 starts with the AFC U23 Championship of U23 Vietnam. Head of delegation Tran Anh Tu continues to celebrate victory with the achievements of the whole team. What do you think about the smooth start to the new year for Vietnamese football?
- The beginning of 2025 is the ASEAN Cup championship, bringing prosperity to Vietnamese football in 2025. With winning the third place at the AFC U23 Championship in the early days of 2026, I believe the success of U23 will again open a prosperous year for Vietnamese football this year.
This is also the last year of the VFF Executive Committee of the IX term, how important is this pivotal year to Vietnamese football?
- I think that not only in 2026 but for this entire term, up to now, the Executive Committee of the IX term has excellently completed its tasks. If in 2026, the national team reaches the ASEAN Cup final, and other teams such as the national women's team, men's futsal team, women's futsal team, U20 women's team, U17 men's team and U17 women team follow in the footsteps of U23 to achieve good results at the Asian finals, then this can be considered a complete term.
On that basis, the Executive Committee of term X will have many advantages to continue to inherit and promote the achievements that Vietnamese football has built in the past term.
