Vietnam Workers' and Civil Servants' Football Tournament 2025: Different jobs, same sportsmanship

Winning all 2 opening matches, Dien Bien Trade Union team - the self-proclaimed "weakest team in the tournament" - quickly won a ticket to the quarter-finals of the 2025 Vietnam Workers and Civil Servants Football Tournament, Northern region qualifying round, which opened yesterday (October 3) at the Polytechnic University Stadium.

The two teams of Vietnam Bank Trade Union and Agribank compete on October 3 - Photo: NAM TRAN

In the union uniform, they are a special group with nearly half of the members being ethnic minorities, with different occupations and ages. Some are water plant workers, some are vocational teachers, some are security guards, some are doctors, and some even work in the media.

Each person has a different job, but the members of the Dien Bien Trade Union team share the same belief in victory.

Travel 50km of mountain roads to the training ground

Mr. Tran Duc Viet, 37 years old, an officer at Na Sang Medical Center, Dien Bien, said he had to travel nearly 50km of steep mountain roads to get to the training ground after a day of work. "I always keep a positive spirit, considering this an opportunity to exchange and learn. My whole family loves sports, especially football, so they support and encourage me wholeheartedly," he said with a smile.

As for Mr. Lu Van Hung, 38 years old, a teacher at Dien Bien College, a Thai ethnic - the author of 2 beautiful goals in the opening match, winning 4-0 against Hung Yen Trade Union, expressed that before going to Hanoi, he "asked permission" from his wife and asked for support from his grandparents so that he could play with peace of mind. With the team's achievements, he shared that it was the result of a month of training, getting used to tactics and diligently overcoming weaknesses.

"After the tournament, I want to share with my students the joy of wearing the Dien Bien Trade Union team shirt and the spirit of sportsmanship, not giving up. I will tell my own story to set an example for them, to spread the spirit of sportsmanship, exercise, and maintain a healthy lifestyle," said Mr. Hung.

Ms. Lau Thi Thanh Huong, head of the Dien Bien Trade Union delegation, said the team faced numerous difficulties: limited competition experience, a rather high average age (39 years old), and a travel distance of more than 500km from Dien Bien to Hanoi. However, with the attention of departments and units in the province and the enthusiasm and excitement of the athletes, the team overcame the difficulties, achieved favorable results against very strong opponents to soon enter the quarterfinals.

The joy of victory of Dien Bien Trade Union team members - Photo: THANH DINH

Good memories

Mr. Do Dinh Hai, 30 years old, a worker at Biel Crystal Co., Ltd., Bac Ninh 2 Trade Union team, shared that he was very happy to participate in the tournament, because the time for sports exchanges was limited due to the long production packing work, with peak periods reaching 10-12 hours/day. "The company and the trade union created very good conditions for the brothers to participate in the most training, both maintaining physical strength and connecting in each ball phase," Mr. Hai excitedly said.

As a father of two, Mr. Hai had to ask his wife to arrange his work and pick up his children so that he could "go out to sea" to compete with peace of mind. "The opponents are very strong, the lineup is even, the tactics are methodical, but I am happy to be able to express myself and immerse myself in the atmosphere of the 2025 Vietnam Workers' and Civil Servants' Football Tournament. This will be a beautiful memory for me to tell my children and friends about playing football in Bac Ninh," he said.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc - Vice President of the Bac Ninh Provincial Federation of Labor - said that this is the third year the province has had a team participating in the tournament. Mass tournaments in the province have developed more, thereby helping union members have more useful and healthy playgrounds after work. "Unions and companies at all levels are very supportive and create conditions for workers to participate. I hope that the two representatives of the Bac Ninh Labor Union will compete well with a noble sportsmanship spirit and go far in the tournament," Ms. Ngoc said.

Spread the image

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Bank Union team is a different story. This team is actually SHB FC, a team with a strong football movement in Hanoi, although it was only established 3 years ago and was chosen to represent the banking industry to compete in the tournament.

This is a group of bank employees who work together and play together because they share a passion for football. Many of them are famous on the amateur football field. So it was not difficult for this team to win both opening matches against the Vietnam Trade Union of Industry and Trade 5-0 and the Agribank Union 13-0 to qualify for the quarter-finals.

However, this team still appears modest. Mr. Nguyen Huy Tai - Deputy General Director of SHB, Chairman of SHB FC and Head of the Vietnam Banking Union team at the tournament - shared: "Our first goal is to accompany the tournament for success.

The second is to spread the cultural image of bank officers and employees. And finally, aim for the championship of the qualifying round and win a ticket to the final round."

Dien Bien Trade Union (left) won over Hanoi Trade Union - Photo: NGOC LE

Rain of goals on opening day

The first day of the 2025 Vietnam Workers' and Civil Servants' Football Tournament witnessed a feast of goals from the participating teams.

After the first two matches of the group stage of the Northern region qualifying round of the Vietnam Workers' and Civil Servants' Football Tournament 2025 taking place on October 3 at the University of Science and Technology Stadium (Hanoi), there were 94 goals scored by the players.

Among them, there was one player who scored a "poker" (4 goals) - Ha Thuan An, in the match where Vietnam Bank Trade Union won Agribank 13-0. Another player who scored a hat-trick was Nguyen Hoang Anh in the match where Hai Phong Trade Union won Vietnam Education Trade Union 11-0. These were also two matches with a record number of goals on the opening day.

On the remaining first day of competition, there were quite a few players who scored doubles and more than 20 strikers who shined. In the group of players who scored the most goals, Nguyen Hoang Anh (Hai Phong Trade Union) led with 5 goals. Following him was Ha Thuan An (Vietnam Bank Trade Union). These are two typical faces in the attack of the trade union teams. The sublimation of these strikers inspired the teams to attack, contributing to bringing a football feast to the audience.

However, the teams that scored a lot of goals were not able to get an early ticket to pass the group stage. That was an interesting paradox, when Dien Bien Trade Union, the team that claimed to be "the weakest in the tournament", was the first and only team to get a ticket to the quarter-finals after the first day of the qualifying round.

Dien Bien Trade Union has 6 points after 2 matches, winning 4-0 against Hung Yen Trade Union and 2-1 against Hanoi Trade Union. Following the Northwestern representative is Hanoi Trade Union (3 points), Hung Yen Trade Union and VPBank with 1 point each. Therefore, Dien Bien Trade Union is sure to advance with any result in the final round.

In the remaining groups, Hai Phong, despite having 6 points after 2 rounds in Group A, is not sure of advancing as the 2 teams behind them have 3 points. Similarly in Group D, the Vietnam Bank Trade Union also has 6 points but has not secured a ticket to the next round.

For teams that lost heavily, such as the Vietnam Education Trade Union or the Vietnam Health Trade Union (0 points after 2 rounds), they had to say goodbye to the tournament early even though they had not finished the qualifying round. The last round for them was considered a formality and also an opportunity to exchange and learn.

The final round of the Northern region qualifying round of the Vietnam Workers' and Civil Servants' Football Tournament 2025 took place this morning (October 4) and will determine the remaining places to continue.

The 2025 Vietnam Workers and Civil Servants Football Tournament is jointly organized by Tuoi Tre Newspaper, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, and the Vietnam Football Federation. This is the third consecutive year the tournament has taken place.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/giai-bong-da-cong-nhan-vien-chuc-viet-nam-2025-khac-cong-viec-chung-tinh-than-the-thao-20251004080321612.htm