Coach Vu Hong Viet parted ways with Nam Dinh Green Steel?

Coach Vu Hong Viet resigned after losing to Gamba Osaka

After 2 consecutive seasons of winning LPBank V-League, Nam Dinh Blue Steel suddenly went into a slump. They started the new 2025/26 season with a 2-3 loss to Hanoi Police in the National Super Cup match and could not create the stability as expected.

Nam Dinh Blue Steel won their opening matches in all three important tournaments: V-League, Asian Cup C2 and Southeast Asian Cup C1. However, they have never won two consecutive matches since the beginning of the season. The inconsistent performance has caused coach Vu Hong Viet's team to receive a lot of criticism.

This midweek, Thep Xanh Nam Dinh lost 1-3 away to Gamba Osaka, extending their poor run of form. This was the third loss in the last four matches for the team from the southern city. Before that, they lost to Cong An Ha Noi and Becamex TP.HCM at Thien Truong Stadium and fell to 10th place in the V-League, just 4 points above the bottom team HAGL.

According to experts, the main reason for Nam Dinh Green Steel's decline is the decline of domestic players and the lack of innovation in tactics by coach Vu Hong Viet. With winning the V-League for two consecutive years, many pillars of the white shirt team seem to have lost their motivation to win.

Reliable sources say that coach Vu Hong Viet has decided to part ways with the Nam Dinh Steel Blue right after the defeat against Gamba Osaka. The Thien Truong Stadium team will likely make an official announcement today, although they want coach Vu Hong Viet to lead one more match to have time to find a replacement.

Coach Vu Hong Viet was born in 1979. He used to be a player for Hanoi ACB, HAGL and Hoa Phat Hanoi. He started coaching in 2011 as an assistant at Hanoi Youth. He then became the head coach of Vietnam U15 and U19 before trying his hand at V-League with Quang Nam in 2019.

After helping Quang Nam stay in the league, Mr. Vu Hong Viet joined the coaching staff of the Vietnamese national team under coach Park Hang-seo. At the end of August 2022, he was appointed by Nam Dinh Steel to replace coach Nguyen Van Sy and has been in the position since then. Under coach Vu Hong Viet, Nam Dinh won 2 V-League championships in 2024 and 2025.