Hanoi Women's Football:

In recent days, Hanoi women's football has witnessed important changes after a long series of disappointing days. From the U16 team winning the national championship to the first team having a new coach, all are raising hopes of regaining the old glory for Hanoi football.

Hanoi women's team (white shirt) competes at the 2025 National Cup. Photo: VFF

From the long slides...

The halo of Hanoi women's football was at its brightest from 1998 to 2014, when they won the national championship 10 times and contributed many pillars to the national team. However, the most recent championship in 2014 also marked the beginning of the decline of the capital's women's football. Since then, Hanoi women's football has gone through more than 10 seasons without winning the national championship and has played unconvincingly in many other tournaments. This decline has surprised many people, because this is a team with a rich tradition and well-invested.

In recent years, the Hanoi Sports Training and Competition Center (Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports) has applied many measures to improve the performance of women's football, including inviting foreign coaches.

However, the results were not as expected. After parting ways with foreign coaches, Hanoi women's football returned to using domestic coaches, but their performance did not improve, and even declined. At the 2025 National Cup, the team continued to be eliminated early, including defeats against "group" opponents such as Vietnam Coal and Minerals. This was the second consecutive time they stopped right from the group stage, something that had never happened in the team's history.

While Hanoi is still struggling to find a direction, Vietnamese women's football is changing rapidly. Ho Chi Minh City is taking the lead in using players of Vietnamese origin and signing short-term contracts with foreign players. Thai Nguyen T&T has emerged as a new force with strong financial potential, ready to recruit top stars from all over the country.

As mentioned by Hanoi Moi Newspaper, Hanoi women's football has fallen to the second group in the Vietnamese women's football community, although it still receives relatively stable funding and investment. This is a hard-to-swallow disappointment for a club that used to be a symbol of victory for the capital's women's football.

To the positive signals

Amidst many difficulties, Hanoi women's football is receiving positive signals. Notably, the U16 team won the national championship in 2025, opening up hope for a source of high-quality successor players. In the first team, since the beginning of August, the leaders of Hanoi football have appointed coach Phung Thi Minh Nguyet - former midfielder of the Vietnam women's football team - to the position of head coach. Minh Nguyet's return brings great expectations, because she not only has experience in top-level competition, but also has a deep understanding of player psychology and the identity of Hanoi football. Like her former teammate Doan Thi Kim Chi - currently leading the Ho Chi Minh City women's club, Minh Nguyet is expected to breathe new life into the Hanoi team to help it return to its previous position.

In addition, the team still maintains the support of sponsor Thai Son Bac - a solid financial support for many years, helping the club maintain stable operations and focus on investing in expertise. Another good news comes from the fact that many pillars, especially number one striker Pham Hai Yen, have committed to a long-term commitment to the team. The loyalty of the stars is a key factor, creating a solid foundation for building a long-term strategy and shaping a stable playing style.

In a recent exchange, Ms. Quach Thanh Mai, Deputy Head of the Hanoi Women's Football Department (Hanoi Sports Training and Competition Center) said that the current coaches and athletes are all clearly aware of the team's goals in the coming time. Although they have not set a goal of winning the 2025 National Championship (starting from September), the team must at least be in the top 3 teams. Currently, Hanoi's force is still among the top in the country, with 7 players wearing the national team jersey participating in the 2025 Southeast Asian Championship. Deputy Head of the Department Quach Thanh Mai emphasized that, for those involved, everyone has enough professional self-respect to realize the set goals, especially when they are receiving absolute trust from leaders at all levels.

From a professional perspective, expert Phan Anh Tu believes that the core factor for Hanoi women's football to re-establish its position lies not only in changing the coach in the direction of "the right person, the right place", but also in investing systematically in the youth training system and facilities. At the same time, the coaches themselves need to play the role of "fire-starters" - arousing the spirit of professionalism and dedication in each training session, something that Hanoi women's football has lacked for many years.

The road back to the top is certainly not easy. The team needs more time to rebuild the system, reshape the long-term strategy, and adapt to the new development trend of Vietnamese women's football, where clubs are competing more and more fiercely both on the field and in the transfer market. However, with a solid traditional foundation, stable funding, an experienced coaching staff and the loyalty of many key players, Hanoi can absolutely dream of returning to the podium of glory, where they have been absent since 2014.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/bong-da-nu-ha-noi-nhen-len-hy-vong-tim-lai-anh-hao-quang-xua-713009.html