Coaching andeducation philosophy is the core foundation for all football, including Vietnam, to produce generations of talented and virtuous players. That is also the common vision that the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) shares with La Liga (Spanish national championship), leading to the birth of the Vietnam La Liga Academy.
Vietnam Football aims to participate in the World Cup, first of all, making an effort to enter the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup, with a vision of participating in the 2030 or 2034 World Cup. On the Asian football map, World Cup qualification has always been an internal affair of leading powers such as Japan, South Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. These are countries with a solid football foundation, the highest quality players in the continent, and a national team with many achievements in major tournaments.
When the number of Asian participation slots is expanded from 4.5 to 8.5 (because the World Cup finals from 2026 onwards will have 48 participating teams), opportunities will open up for football nations in group two, including UAE, Uzbekistan, China, Qatar, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Thailand, Indonesia or Vietnam. A development strategy for the national team and the national professional football system has been outlined by the VFF, with a vision for the next 5 to 10 years.
However, the core element of any strategy towards the World Cup is people. Vietnamese football, if it wants to aim for the World Cup, will need not only a few good players, but also a generation of talent, with the quality of the whole football being raised to a new level. Technology in training, educating and coaching players, especially at the youth level, is the core link to change the face of Vietnamese football.
The emergence of international football academies helps Vietnamese football improve comprehensively for the World Cup goal.
Up to now, Vietnam has had centers (or club training centers) that are highly appreciated for their quality and training efficiency such as Viettel, Hanoi Club, SLNA, PVF - Ministry of Public Security ... However, looking at Japan, Korea - countries with hundreds of youth training centers, not to mention the extremely developed school football system that brings many talented choices to the national team, Vietnamese football clearly needs to train better, update youth training technology from developed football backgrounds, approach international standards, help players have the opportunity to rub shoulders, practice, compete in major tournaments to accumulate experience.
In the above context, the appearance of La Liga with the agreement to establish the La Liga Vietnam Academy, cooperating in youth training with VFF has brought another foothold for Vietnamese football to dream of reaching new heights. From the signing milestone, VFF and La Liga will begin to have many official activities in the field of sports training, bringing the values of La Liga to Vietnam. The program will start from the root of training, aiming to create opportunities for young Vietnamese people to go to Spain to continue developing. La Liga also wants to create conditions to help the team of Vietnamese coaches and management experts to be continuously upgraded. The destination is very specific: Vietnam will participate in the World Cup.
The Vietnam national team is entering a transition period under coach Philippe Troussier. After reaching the third qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup, the Vietnamese team has shifted from a defensive counter-attacking philosophy to proactively holding the ball, building an attacking style of play, circulating the ball with short, small passes, making the most of technical foundation and tactical thinking to shape the style of play, instead of relying on pure muscle speed.
This style of play was chosen based on two criteria: the Vietnamese team needs to develop a more proactive style of play, learn how to organize the team and rotate the ball systematically, instead of just retreating to actively defend. In addition, this style of play is suitable for the physical condition of Vietnamese players, who are agile, skillful, and have a spirit of continuous learning and progress. To expand international cooperation in youth training, choosing a football background with a similar philosophy is the smoothest path.
Singer and musician Thanh Bui plays the role of a bridge to bring La Liga's training technology to Vietnam.
Singer and musician Thanh Bui - founder of La Liga Vietnam Academy shared: "The physical condition of Spanish people is quite similar to that of Vietnamese people, especially when compared to other European countries. The playing style in La Liga is based on the philosophy of passing the ball and utilizing techniques, which is very close to Vietnamese football. Spanish football has also affirmed its class when both the Spanish men's and women's teams have won the World Cup. Being connected, supported in training, and able to compete in Spain will contribute to improving the quality of Vietnamese football talents. Japan, Korea, and Australia have also followed the same direction, with players being given the opportunity to compete in England, Germany, Italy, etc., and contributing to building the foundation for their national football. Conversely, Vietnam is also a potential market for La Liga to promote investment cooperation and image building.
La Liga leaders see the potential of the Vietnamese market to open a training academy. In fact, they will not make much profit from this. But they have a long-term view: If just one Vietnamese person plays in Spain, the price of La Liga television rights will increase significantly in Vietnam. Not to mention if there is a Vietnamese player playing for Real Madrid. Financially, this is one of the investment channels for the future."
La Liga Vietnam Academy has coaches who are well-trained abroad.
Building a comprehensive educational foundation for players is extremely important. Because a successful player, in addition to professional factors such as technical skills, physical strength, strength, etc., also needs a good moral foundation, a noble sportsmanship, a full education in how to behave, and good social and cultural knowledge so that even if he does not pursue a football career, he can still become a useful citizen, creating value for society.
That is also the philosophy that La Liga wants to bring to young Vietnamese players through the training cooperation agreement. Professional football training is just the surface. A good player needs to be reinforced with the right awareness, learn to sympathize, cooperate, accept failure and learn to improve every day. Winning is the highest goal in football, but more importantly, players need to learn how to strive for victory and not be discouraged when they fail.
Young Vietnamese football talents are taught about noble sportsmanship.
"First of all, it is necessary to realize that more than 90% of children who learn football will not necessarily pursue a career in football. Therefore, we consider football as a channel to convey to them lessons about health, spirit, connection, effort, victory and defeat. For example, in every match, children are always taught to share. When they see their opponent fall, they know how to support and ask. When they see their teammates in pain, they know how to encourage them. They also learn how to win: You cannot do anything by any means. They learn about failure: Today's defeat can be the foundation for tomorrow's victory.
At first, many parents did not feel this philosophy. On the contrary, some thought that playing sports meant competing, winning or losing. Or some parents asked us to scold the children: When seeing their children do something wrong, the coach just punished them to run around the field. We said no, because running once out of fear would make them afraid to run. Instead, the coach would explain their behavior. A question that coaches often ask is how would they feel if they were treated the way they did? Understanding education requires patience and the heart of the teacher," Mr. Thanh Bui shared.
Studying culture in parallel with football is a new feature of international football academies in Vietnam today.
With the goal of training players and contributing to the improvement of Vietnamese football, La Liga Vietnam Academy plans to apply a football teaching model according to Spanish standards. The program will start from the root of training, aiming to create opportunities for young Vietnamese people to go to Spain to continue their development. La Liga also wants to create conditions to help the team of Vietnamese coaches and management experts to be continuously upgraded.
The ultimate goal is to improve the quality of Vietnamese football in terms of both human resources and organizational foundation to increase competitiveness for the World Cup goal.
In 1978, when Cha Bum-kun left Sangmu FC (Korean Air Force Football Team) to play for Freiburg in Germany, he was filled with skepticism because Korean football had never had a player play in Europe. Then, 45 years later, Korean coach Jurgen Klinsmann was able to field a squad with 11 players who had played or are playing in Europe. Son Heung-min, the pride of Korea, won the Premier League's top scorer title and is currently the captain of Tottenham.
There is no road without a path. The small steps of today's generation will be the foundation for future generations to "break new ground", creating a wide and open road.
What about the desire to have a Vietnamese player who can wear the Real Madrid shirt? It is possible, if the whole football system of our country keeps trying and hoping.
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