Central football 'sighs'

Never before has Central football been as sad as this year when witnessing its representatives "sinking" in both the V-League and the First Division...

Binh Dinh (left) was relegated, while SHB Da Nang (right) played in the play-off - - Photo: VPF

Current V-League runner-up Quy Nhon Binh Dinh was relegated. Former champion Quang Nam only escaped at the last minute, forcing another former champion SHB Da Nang to play in the play-off to stay in the V-League. In the First Division, Hue Club was also relegated.

Too much sadness

Hue FC won the 2002 National Cup runner-up position and played in the V-League for many years before being relegated in 2007. Limited finances forced Hue FC to struggle in the First Division, even falling to the Second Division in 2012. Now, Hue football is once again relegated to the Second Division after 12 years in the First Division.

For those who love Hue football, it is a real sadness. But if you look at the team's strength, relegation is inevitable. Without the funds to retain good players, Hue Club had to promote 12 U19 players to the first team, making this young squad (average age just over 21 years old) seriously lacking in experience.

In 20 matches in the 2024-2025 First Division, Hue only won 4, drew 4 and lost 12 matches, being relegated early one round early. Last time, Hue Club only needed 2 years playing in the Second Division to win the right to return to the First Division in 2014. This time, it is difficult to predict how long it will take for Hue football to return to the professional playing field when funding is still the biggest obstacle.

Similarly, Quy Nhon Binh Dinh Club (Binh Dinh) was also relegated. But the pain of Binh Dinh Club is much greater when it is the current runner-up of the tournament and was once a team living in wealth after winning the right to return to V-League 2021. At that time, Binh Dinh was sponsored by a large enterprise in the homeland up to 300 billion VND for 3 years. But due to the lack of a clear strategy, now the "dark horse" has returned to the First Division.

Luckily, SHB Da Nang won a place in the play-off match with the runner-up of the First Division, Truong Tuoi Binh Phuoc, but they still cannot be happy. Because if they fail in the upcoming play-off match, they will be relegated for the second time in three seasons.

If SHB Da Nang stays in the league, Central football can only sigh after their lackluster performance this season.

What future for Central football?

If Hue Club's failure was due to not being able to find sponsors to help develop, Binh Dinh Club's failure came from the lack of a systematic development strategy.

The large sum of VND300 billion for 3 years from V-League 2021 was spent by the team after only 2 seasons. Many players were bought at high prices but could not be used much due to continuous injuries or gradually passing the decline of their careers.

If that money had been spent effectively and invested more in youth training, Binh Dinh probably would not have fallen into the current situation when the sponsor had financial difficulties and was forced to sell up to 16 key players right before the 2024-2025 season.

Relegation is a sadness, but Binh Dinh players do not know what their future and the team's future will be when Binh Dinh province merges with Gia Lai.

Quang Nam and Da Nang will also merge into one province. Whether the teams merge or not will depend largely on the fate of SHB Da Nang Club: whether it can stay in the V-League or not. If it can stay, SHB Da Nang Club will need to change a lot to no longer bring the sadness of relegation twice in three seasons.

The same goes for Quang Nam FC! The Quang Nam team was relegated in 2020 after winning the 2017 V-League championship. Returning to the 2023-2024 V-League, they have only been worried about staying in the league.

If there is no change, the future of football in the Central region will continue to be nothing but sighs.

Sad for Khanh Hoa football!

Khanh Hoa FC was relegated after the 2023-2024 V-League. Not yet over the sadness of their team being relegated to the 2024-2025 First Division, Khanh Hoa fans received more bad news. Two former coaches Dang Dao and Nguyen Ty of the Khanh Hoa Provincial Sports Technical Training Center were prosecuted and temporarily detained at the end of May to investigate the crime of abusing their positions and powers to appropriate property.

According to the investigation results, from 2021 to 2024, Mr. Dao and Mr. Ty colluded to appropriate a total of more than 3.2 billion VND. Of which, the loss to the state budget was more than 500 million VND, and the loss to athletes was more than 2.7 billion VND.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bong-da-mien-trung-tho-dai-20250625105155409.htm