Highlights before the new season
Before the match, this year's V.League witnessed strong investment in personnel from many clubs. Thep Xanh Nam Dinh continued to affirm its ambition by recruiting a series of notable new players such as 2.06m tall English striker Kyle Hudlin, Mahmoud Eid (Palestine) and defensive midfielder Njabulo Blom (South Africa). The team from Thanh Nam also added quality domestic players such as Dang Van Toi, A Mit and Tran Ngoc Son.
Along with the new recruits, Nam Dinh still retains the squad that won the championship last season with prominent names such as goalkeeper Nguyen Manh, defender Kevin Pham Ba (Vietnamese-French), Lucas Alves (Brazil), Thanh Hao, Hong Duy, Van Kien, Van Vi; midfielders Caio Cesar, Romulo (Brazil), Joseph Mpande (Uganda), Tuan Anh, Hoang Anh, Van Vu, Ti Phong and strikers Brenner (Brazil), Xuan Son, Van Toan. Despite possessing a strong squad, the biggest challenge for this team will be the tight competition schedule on 4 fronts: V.League, National Cup, AFC Champions League II and Southeast Asian Club Championship.
Ninh Binh FC - a new but ambitious name, also impressed with a series of quality contracts. After recruiting Hoang Duc, Dang Van Lam and Thanh Binh last season, the team continued to strengthen with Chau Ngoc Quang, Nguyen Duc Chien, Tran Bao Toan and Dung Quang Nho. In the international market, they brought in striker Gustavo Henrique (Brazil), two Spanish defenders Victor Morales and Alfredo Pedraza, along with the notable name Do Nguyen Thanh Chung, a Bulgarian U21 player who used to play for Slavia Sofia. In addition, Vietnamese-French defender Evan Abran also joined the squad.
In addition to the two teams from Ninh Binh province, representatives from the capital such as Hanoi FC, Hanoi Police and The Cong Viettel also have additions to increase the depth of the squad. With the existing star cast, this "five heroes" group will create a more exciting championship race than ever.
From an organizational perspective, this year's season marks an important turning point when VAR is officially applied throughout the entire V.League after the pilot phase at the end of last season. The Super Cup will be the first match to apply VAR in the new season with a high-quality referee team and FIFA representatives to monitor. VPF has trained 33 more qualified referees and 34 assistants, aiming to improve transparency and reduce controversy.
The 2025-2026 season will continue to maintain 14 clubs, competing in a double round-robin format (26 rounds). The increase of two direct relegation slots puts great pressure on the bottom group. The match schedule mainly falls on weekends, many derby matches between localities in the same province and city promise to increase competition and attract spectators. LPBank is still the main sponsor with a total prize value for the top 3 up to 9.5 billion VND.
Challenges on the new journey
Despite many positive changes, V.League 2025-2026 still faces many challenges. Financial issues are one of the major barriers, especially after the merger of localities. Quang Nam Club was forced to disband due to lack of maintenance funds after merging with Da Nang.
The tournament spot was given back to PVF-CAND. Truong Tuoi Dong Nai (first division runner-up) also refused to be promoted because of insufficient resources. Meanwhile, many teams in the first division are facing the risk of withdrawing due to lack of financial resources to operate.
The merger of provinces and cities also creates major changes in identity and fans. For example, fans of Binh Duong or Ba Ria - Vung Tau will feel confused when cheering for a team named Ho Chi Minh City. In addition, having many teams in one province also puts pressure on sharing the audience, especially when the clubs have not yet built their own identity and loyal fan base. If this problem is not solved, the teams can easily fall into financial crisis due to lack of support from the audience.
Regarding the competition schedule, this season's V.League may be interrupted many times due to the national team's training schedule. This can easily lead to the tournament being broken emotionally, affecting the performance of the clubs. For Nam Dinh, having to compete in 4 different tournaments makes the task of coordinating forces extremely stressful. The fact that many players are called up to the national team and U23 also makes it difficult for clubs to maintain stability in personnel.
Another major challenge is youth training. Although there are some bright spots such as Viettel, PVF or Hanoi FC doing well, most V.League clubs still do not have a systematic training system or lack a long-term vision. If clubs continue to chase results by “buying stars”, they will have difficulty maintaining stable strength in the medium and long term.
Overall, V.League 2025-2026 is an important milestone in the transformation of Vietnamese football. Advantages in technology, investment, media and competition format are positive premises.
However, clubs and organizers need to continue to innovate strongly, increase financial autonomy, professionalize operations and especially build a sustainable fan community. Only then can Vietnamese football reach new heights in both expertise and brand.
Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/the-thao/cho-mot-mua-giai-bung-no-159515.html
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