The workshop focused on the contents related to the expected competition plan, draft regulations of the National Championship, National First Division, National Cup. In addition, the clubs also presented papers and contributed topics related to the management, organization and operation of the tournaments.

Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training Nguyen Hong Minh affirmed that the General Department always closely follows, gives development orientations and coordinates with the Vietnam Football Federation and VPF Company in improving the quality and developing national professional football tournaments.

“In the coming time, VPF Company needs to continue to closely coordinate with the Vietnam Football Federation to achieve stronger and more drastic steps in organizing professional tournaments. The General Department's leaders hope that VPF Company and the clubs will always demonstrate community responsibility and join hands to contribute to the development of Vietnamese football.”

The ongoing 2023 season is considered a pivotal season to implement the plan to change the organization time frame for club-level tournaments in the AFC competition system.

Conference scene.

In addition, some tournaments in 2023 were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, causing a domino effect, affecting the plan to organize national professional football tournaments in the 2023-2024 season. To ensure the organization time, the 2023-2024 season is expected to start only about 2 months after the end of the 2023 season. The workshop agreed on the organization time of the 2023-2024 season starting from October 20, 2023 and ending on July 11, 2024.

The season will have some breaks with the team's competition plan during the FIFA Days, AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2024, AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024. At the workshop, the clubs expressed their opinions on how the break time will affect the quality of the tournaments and the plans of the teams. VPF Company will take into account the opinions and will report to the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Football Federation to ensure the match between the team's competition plan and the plans of the clubs.

According to the Resolution of the 3rd Executive Committee Conference of the Vietnam Football Federation, term IX (term 2022-2026) on April 28, 2023, in the 2023-2024 season, the National First Division has 12 participating teams with 1.5 promoted teams and 2 relegated teams; the National Championship has 14 participating teams with 1.5 relegated teams. Both tournaments are expected to apply the two-round round-robin format (home - away) to calculate points and rank. The 2023-2024 National Cup will take place with 26 participating teams (14 teams in the National Championship and 12 teams in the National First Division), competing in a one-match knockout format.  

Also within the framework of the workshop, VPF General Director Nguyen Minh Ngoc reported on the roadmap for applying VAR technology in Vietnam. Up to now, the technical and material preparations for the VAR project have been completed by VPF and its partners. 18 referees and assistant referees are undergoing training from June 8 to June 18. With careful attention and preparation in terms of logistics, VPF hopes that the referees and assistant referees will pass the FIFA test so that VAR technology can soon be deployed in national professional football tournaments in the near future.

News and photos: HA XUAN