When talking with Mr. Hien, we will be surprised that he understands very well about the formation and development process of women's football (Portugal). More precisely, Mr. Hien cares when he feels sorry for the fate of girls who are passionate about pursuing the career of round ball.
Cherish the past
Mr. Hien took us from one surprise to another when he emphasized: in the journey to glory, in addition to the efforts of the female players, we cannot fail to mention the contributions of men, and above all, Mr. Tran Thanh Ngu and Mr. Hoang Vinh Giang, one sports activist in Ho Chi Minh City and the other in Hanoi.
Portugal was “born” in Ho Chi Minh City, but as a person knowledgeable in the sports industry, Mr. Thanh Ngu knew very well that, for Portugal to exist and develop, it needed to connect with Hanoi . Therefore, he proposed to Mr. Hoang Vinh Giang - then Director of the Hanoi Department of Sports and Physical Training - to develop Portugal together, starting from the capital Hanoi and District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Mr. Giang, who is also the “father” of the idea of “shortcuts, get ahead”, immediately agreed.
So, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory (1954-1994), Mr. Thanh Ngu organized the "Back to Dien Bien" bicycle race, starting from the capital Hanoi, going to Dien Bien and racing around A1 hill on the afternoon of May 7. Also present with the racing team, the two teams of Portugal Hanoi and District 1 competed in friendly matches in some localities that the racing team passed through such as Son La, Moc Chau, Dien Bien... to promote Portugal.
Yet, just three years later, in their first trip abroad, the Vietnamese Portuguese team won the pre-SEA Games championship in Malaysia and three months later won the 1997 SEA Games Bronze Medal in Indonesia. In this SEA Games, Mr. Thanh Ngu continued to spend his own money to support the meals for the female players and also took on the role of medical care for the team. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why the first generation of Vietnamese Portuguese players such as goalkeeper Kim Hong, midfielder My Oanh, striker Ngoc Mai... always considered Mr. Thanh Ngu as their second father.
There is an unprecedented detail in football history that Mr. Thanh Ngu and Mr. Vinh Giang have done for Portugal: a national team was established when there was no official club, no national championship, but won the SEA Games Bronze Medal in its first participation.
From this milestone, Vietnam has gradually developed and reaped proud achievements, the most notable of which is participating in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup finals, winning 8 SEA Games Gold Medals...
Mr. Hien always remembers the immortal saying of Mr. Thanh Ngu and Mr. Vinh Giang: "Portugal will be present in the World Cup finals before men's football." Even when Vietnamese football was still struggling to find a medal at the SEA Games, Mr. Thanh Ngu once affirmed: "I probably won't be able to wait for the SEA Games Gold Medal for men's football, but Portugal will." Just as he predicted, at the 2001 SEA Games, the Vietnamese Portuguese team won the Gold Medal, before he passed away five years later.
The future must be different
But Vietnam's Portuguese national team cannot develop further if it relies on the passion, spirit, will and sacrifice of the girls who love football. Mr. Hien said he was very surprised when he received information that the lives of the national players who brought glory to the country were too difficult, such as the story of the goalkeeper of the Vietnamese national team Kim Hong - now the goalkeeper coach for the Vietnamese Portuguese national team - who used to sell bread, and some other players had to work as tailors, sell coffee, sell sugarcane juice, sticky rice, repair motorbikes... to have money to support themselves and pursue their passion for football. Even though it was 2018, there were places where the monthly income of female players was not more than 1.5 million VND.
Too heartbroken, when he had time, conditions and the invitation of Thai Nguyen sports leaders, Mr. Hien agreed to invest, not only helping Thai Nguyen Portuguese Football Club not to be dissolved but also changing the investment perspective of Portuguese Football of officials and leaders of localities who have been and are in charge of developing Portuguese Football.
Also Mr. Hien with his sympathy and sympathy for Portugal through the saying "A woman who has worked hard, her husband will not betray her" when answering the media, Van Thi Thanh - the first and only woman so far in Vietnam to have an AFC Pro certificate (the highest certificate of the Asian Football Confederation granted to professional coaches qualified to lead national teams) - said that it was that saying that convinced her to accept the position of Head Coach of Portuguese Club Thai Nguyen T&T.
Van Thi Thanh was also the author of the only goal in the final match where Vietnam beat Myanmar 1-0 to win the gold medal at the 2003 SEA Games held on home ground. In the same year, Thanh won the Golden Ball and was one of the 10 typical athletes of Vietnamese sports. As an insider, Thanh was even more impressed when Mr. Hien knew very well the hard life of the national female players.
There is almost no distance between talking and doing with Mr. Hien. When the Portuguese team Thai Nguyen was on the verge of disbanding due to lack of operating funds despite the player salary being only 1.3 million VND/month and food allowance being only 100,000 VND/day, T&T Group, of which Mr. Hien was the Chairman of the Board of Directors, agreed to be the main sponsor.
Immediately, the income of female players increased 5-10 times depending on their talent, and many other benefits were added. Many players who had previously retired to work as factory workers now asked to return to the team to compete.
In addition, for the first time in Portuguese history, Thai Nguyen T&T Club has pioneered the transfer of athletes with a signing fee with 3 contracts: Nguyen Thi My Anh, Le Hoai Luong and Tran Thi Kim Anh. Before the 2024 season, Thai Nguyen T&T continued to recruit 3 more players: Tran Thi Kim Thanh (Golden Ball 2023), Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy (Bronze Ball 2023) and Tran Thi Thu.
Not only that, after successfully winning the 2024 national bronze medal, Thai Nguyen T&T Club invited Dang Thi Kieu Trinh to be the goalkeeper coach. Kieu Trinh once owned 3 Vietnamese Golden Balls (2011, 2012, 2017), 3 SEA Games gold medals (2005, 2009, 2017) and the pinnacle was winning the title of Best Player of Southeast Asia in 2012.
With this breakthrough, Mr. Hien has opened a new path for Vietnam's Portugal, which is to create a vibrant transfer market. 6 players of the HCMC Portugal Club and also the Vietnam national team players have signed contracts with Thai Nguyen T&T with a monthly salary of several tens of millions of VND and a signing bonus of around half a billion VND/person.
Because of the "bleeding", the managers of the HCM City Football Club had to change their way of working to retain talented players. HCM City Football Club has carried out a "revolution" in income, the salaries of key players have been increased three times along with many other benefits.
More fundamentally and sustainably, the HCM City Football Team promotes the establishment of a Joint Stock Company, aiming for a professional model. This is a development roadmap in accordance with the requirements of the Asian Football Federation. The HCM City Football Team's Board of Directors also focuses on youth training, preparing a high-quality successor force of players.
NEW LIFE OF THAI NGUYEN T&T CLUB
Thanks to the investment of T&T Group in 2019, Thai Nguyen Portuguese Football Club did not disband. With funding from T&T, Thai Nguyen T&T Club won the bronze medal of the 2024 National Championship for the first time in 21 years of establishment.
The appearance of Thai Nguyen T&T Club has broken the dominance of the trio Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Vietnam National Coal and Minerals.
Not only investing in Thai Nguyen T&T Club, T&T Group also cooperated with Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports and Hanoi Football Federation to organize Hanoi International Women's Football Tournament - T&T Group Cup 2024, taking place from October 3-7, to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Capital (October 10, 1954 - October 10, 2024).
The tournament had 4 participating teams: Manila Digger FC (Philippines), Beijing FC (China), Hanoi and Thai Nguyen T&T. The matches took place at Hang Day Stadium and Thai Nguyen T&T Club won the championship after successively beating Beijing FC 3-1, drawing Hanoi 1-1 and in the final match beating Manila Digger with a score of 7-1.
In addition to professional success in creating a quality playground for female players, the 2024 Hanoi Cup International Football Tournament also contributes to promoting the image of the capital Hanoi.
Therefore, during the tournament, players of the two teams Manila Digger and Beijing (China) had cultural and tourism experiences in Hanoi through tours to some famous landscapes and attractions such as: Thang Long Imperial Citadel, Temple of Literature, Ngoc Son Temple...
Source: https://www.ttgroup.com.vn/bau-hien-va-cuoc-cach-mang-bong-da-nu-viet-nam
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