Vietnamese youth football faces a difficult task in finding a good coach.

CHAOS IN THE HEAD COACHING POSITION FOR VIETNAM 'S U.20 AND U.17 TEAMS

For over two decades, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has consistently used the same coaching staff for both the national team and the U22 team. This solution saves costs, as one coaching team manages both teams and handles various tasks. Simultaneously, coaching both the national team and the U22 team allows the head coach to directly scout and evaluate young players, selecting promising talents to develop into the next generation.

However, the Vietnamese national team and the U22 team are only the tip of the iceberg. The roots of Vietnamese football lie in the U20 and U17 age groups, as these are crucial stages for young talents to reach maturity. Football expert Doan Minh Xuong commented: "The ages of 19 and 20 are very important for every player, because this is almost the last age at which a player can be considered young. Therefore, players at the U20 level need careful nurturing and training at both the club and national team levels."

Coach Roland helped Vietnam U.17 qualify for the 2025 AFC U.17 Championship.

However, the task of finding a good coach for the Vietnam U.20 and U.17 teams has not been given enough attention. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan previously led the Vietnam U.19 and U.20 teams from 2015 to 2019, then resigned, leaving the U.20 coaching position to Coach Philippe Troussier. In 2022, the head coach of the Vietnam U.20 team was Dinh The Nam, while the U.17 team was managed by Nguyen Quoc Tuan. Later, Hoang Anh Tuan returned to coach both the U.20 and U.17 teams simultaneously from early 2023 to mid-2024. Then, when Tuan resigned, his two assistants, Hua Hien Vinh and Tran Minh Chien, took over the U.20 and U.17 teams respectively. Despite this, the results were not as expected.

Coach Hứa Hiền Vinh's team failed to lead the Vietnam U20 team to the 2025 AFC U20 Championship. Prior to that, Vinh's Vietnam U19 team was also eliminated in the group stage of the Southeast Asian U19 Championship. Similarly, Coach Trần Minh Chiến's Vietnam U16 team was eliminated in the semi-finals of the Southeast Asian U16 Championship. Only when this group of players was handed over to Coach Cristiano Roland did their performance improve. However, Roland only held the position for a mere six months before leaving. Even with only two months left until the AFC U17 Championship, the head coach position for the Vietnam U17 team remains vacant.

A long-term strategy is needed.

The constant changes in the head coach position have put the Vietnam U.20 and U.17 teams in a worrying situation. Firstly, the VFF (Vietnam Football Federation) is lacking a source of quality domestic coaches. Coaches Hua Hien Vinh and Tran Minh Chien are both unable to handle the job with the youth teams, even just leading them to compete in the Southeast Asian tournament.

Both of the rare domestic coaches who effectively led the youth teams, Hoang Anh Tuan and Dinh The Nam, have resigned. In a context where established domestic coaches seem to prefer coaching in the V-League over youth teams, the U.20 and U.17 Vietnamese teams have to accept less well-known and less qualified strategists. Mr. Doan Minh Xuong commented: "The VFF must have a strategy for the U.17 and U.20 age groups, such as how to arrange overseas training, what kind of coaching staff to have, and how many matches the young players should play per year. If we have identified this generation as the next generation for the Vietnamese national team, we must invest in them immediately, without delay."

The resurgence of the Vietnam U17 team under Roland's leadership suggests that foreign coaches may still be more effective than domestic ones. Sources from Thanh Nien newspaper indicate that the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) is negotiating to bring in a Japanese coach (with many years of experience coaching Japanese youth teams) to lead the Vietnam U17 team, and possibly also the Vietnam U20 team.

It's time to invest heavily in top-class coaches for youth teams, instead of patching things up haphazardly like in recent years.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bong-da-tre-viet-nam-gian-nan-tim-thay-gioi-185250205230129984.htm