Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club needs more investment

Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club (middle) in the loss to Wuhan Jiangda - Photo: NK

To advance to the continental playground, it is difficult for Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club to compete with the top professional women's clubs in Asia.

Useful tournament

However, coach Doan Thi Kim Chi and her team played very well to win the right to enter the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League Women's 2024-2025. "We played well thanks to the attention of the leaders when creating training conditions in Korea, Hanoi and the enthusiastic cheering of the fans.

In the quarter-final match against Abu Dhabi at Thong Nhat Stadium, even though the team was down 0-3 in the first half, not a single fan left. That was a huge motivation, and thanks to that, we made a spectacular comeback to win 5-4," Coach Kim Chi shared.

Stopping in the semi-finals after losing 0-2 to host Wuhan Jiangda, coach Kim Chi could not hide his regret: "Because it was the first time competing in a continental tournament, some young players lost confidence when going deep into the tournament, so they could not fully promote the advantages they had achieved in the group stage or quarter-finals.

This is a pity, I hope that through this tournament, the young players will be more confident to become the pillars of the team in the future."

Underinvesting in competitors

Apart from the HCMC Women’s Club, all three teams that made it to the semi-finals are professional clubs from Australia, South Korea and China. All three have modern facilities and quality domestic and foreign players. Compared to them, the HCMC Women’s Club is inferior in terms of investment, expertise and player physique.

Specifically, all three teams, the first team, the youth team and the gifted team of the HCMC Women's Club, practice on the artificial turf field of Tao Dan. Only before entering the tournaments, the first team can practice on the natural grass field at Hoa Lu Stadium. Due to limited funds, hiring foreign players can only be short-term, and the salary is also moderate, so it is difficult to demand the expected quality.

The three American foreign players hired by the HCMC Women's Club in the group stage have a salary of about 1,300 USD/month. Although they are quite good quality, they cannot be signed again for the quarterfinals or semi-finals because they cannot wait. As for the foreign players in the quarterfinals and semi-finals, all are only worth 1,000 USD/month.

Compared to foreign players from other teams in the continent, the price is much lower. However, short-term rental makes it difficult for foreign players to integrate into the general playing style in a short time. Meanwhile, all 3 remaining clubs in the semi-finals signed long-term contracts with foreign players.

Need to prepare better

Clubs participating in the National Championship and National Cup will be allowed to hire a foreign player from the 2026 season. But that is a year away while the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club must prepare right now as the 2025-2026 AFC Champions League for Women will kick off next November.

Therefore, making changes to shorten the gap with continental clubs is not simple. "The appearance of foreign players has helped the team improve a lot in spirit. Domestic players learn a lot from foreign players. But when they heard that we only signed a short-term contract, good foreign players did not want to," said coach Kim Chi.

In the immediate future, Coach Kim Chi believes that improving the quality of the existing domestic players is the top priority: "After this tournament, the players must be more aware in training and confident in themselves, so that the team does not depend too much on foreign players. I also hope that the club will be invested in to have better personnel and facilities, and have quality training trips to prepare for the second season."

ORIGINAL

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/clb-nu-tp-hcm-can-co-them-dau-tu-20250523085024133.htm