The old man almost broke the rope.
There are three black spots associated with the V.League, although the VFF, VPF and the tournament’s organizing committee have tried to fix them each season. The first is the referee problem. The second is violence on the pitch. And the third is the story of teams disbanding after being “drained of life” by the big guys.
Most recently, Quang Nam became the 27th club in the history of Vietnamese football to be dissolved. Originally, more than 2 weeks ago, the Quang Nam team announced its dissolution to the players and coaches. The simple reason was that the budget from the previous sponsor was no longer guaranteed.
Quang Nam representatives tried to find new sponsors. They continuously asked VFF and VPF to delay the registration time for V.League 2025/26. But there was no goal in the extra time with Quang Nam. The former V.League 2017 champion quietly disappeared from the map of Vietnamese football, at the same time forcing the tournament's organizers to urgently search for a replacement club.
PVF-CAND is the name to replace Quang Nam, when the registration deadline for participating in V.League is too late. The team led by coach Thach Bao Khanh has to "rush to the neck" to fill the gap in the squad, from personnel to class. Remember a few days before, this team comfortably lent 2 quality young talents, Nguyen Duc Phu and Tay Van Toan, to the Ho Chi Minh City Police Club, because they have more than enough potential to participate in the First Division 2025/26. However, the sudden turning point to V.League has made PVF-CAND struggle to find good personnel to avoid falling into the situation of "paving the way" in the next season.
As mentioned above, Vietnamese football has witnessed many clubs withdrawing from the tournament midway. However, the story of the V.League 2025/26 Organizing Committee patiently waiting for a club to make an effort to ensure that it meets the requirements to participate is a rare story. No matter from which perspective, fans of course cannot avoid feeling bored and disappointed. Because even though it has entered its 26th year, the V.League still has some amateur "specialties".
Unexpected deals
Right in the context of many fans still holding on to their prejudices about V.League, this tournament has suddenly transformed and created a boost, through the excitement coming from the transfer market. Despite being at the end of the shopping period, the "summer market" is still bustling and witnessing famous contracts.
Nguyen Tien Linh, the current Vietnamese Golden Ball 2024, changed his destination right at the end of the summer transfer window. Instead of staying to become a legend at Becamex TP.HCM (formerly Becamex Binh Duong ), the 28-year-old striker decided to join the Ho Chi Minh City Police Club.
The vice-captain of the Vietnam National Team is not the only “blockbuster” contract that the Ho Chi Minh City Police Club has made, during the transfer period from the Ho Chi Minh City Club. Instead of an average force serving the goal of staying in the league, the representative of the Southern Police Department has quietly recruited a series of good players to aim for the top 5 of the tournament. These include former national and U23 Vietnam players: Pham Duc Huy, Dang Van Lam or Pham Van Luan.
In addition, the signing of Samuel Bastien - a midfielder who was once valued at 7 million euros - was enough to make the Ho Chi Minh City Police Club admire its fans. It should be remembered that before returning to Vietnam, the 28-year-old midfielder played for two famous clubs in Belgium (Anderlect, Standard Liege), Italy (Chievo) and especially with Burnley promoted to the Premier League in the 2023/24 season. Not stopping there, central defender Matheus Felipe - a player valued at 1 million euros by Transfermarkt - also came to the Ho Chi Minh City Police Club. That is enough to see how strong coach Le Huynh Duc's army is because of rice and bold because of money.
Also revolving around the story of player valuation, V.League fans have more reason to wait for the 2025/26 season to start. Hong Linh Ha Tinh, a team famous for "tightening its belt" when participating in transfers, also brought in striker Serdyuk. The Ukrainian face is also valued at 800,000 euros. This number is enough to see the efforts to rebuild the squad of the Central representative, after a series of departures of pillars such as Xuan Truong, Adou Minh, Dinh Tien... Also not inferior in terms of buying big foreign players. Hanoi Club, after bringing in Hendrio, continued to bring in central midfielder Willian Maranhao, who has the top value in V.League this season.
Along with the ambitions from the clubs materialized through "heavyweight" contracts, V.League 2025/26 has another powerful magnet. That is the appearance of a series of high-quality overseas Vietnamese players. Chung Nguyen Do (Tran Thanh Trung) - U21 Bulgaria player has agreed to come to V.League with a contract of no less than 10 billion VND from Ninh Binh Club. Lee Williams received a large salary to return from England to Vietnam to join The Cong Viettel. Brandon Ly, a name that grew up in Burnley, has also agreed to come to V.League and play for Hanoi Police Club.
In addition, V.League clubs are competing to recruit average to good Vietnamese-origin talents. This is not to fill the gap in the squad (each club is allowed to register 2 overseas Vietnamese players), but the teams themselves are really interested in the appeal and quality of these faces.
The more ambitious V.League is, the more fans want to watch. The more carefully invested this tournament is, the more its position is raised day by day...
V.League has no Xuan Son, Van Hau in the first leg
In addition to highly valued foreign players and famous overseas Vietnamese faces, V.League 2025/26 also awaits the return of two national players. Those are Nguyen Xuan Son and Doan Van Hau.
However, according to coach Vu Hong Viet (Nam Dinh), Xuan Son can only return in phase 2. "Currently, Xuan Son is at home practicing recovery. The possibility of him returning to the field in the first leg of V.League 2025/26 is very difficult. We hope Xuan Son can return in the second leg," coach Vu Hong Viet shared.
The story is similar to Doan Van Hau. The talented left-back of Vietnamese football is only in the stage of practicing with the ball on the field. It is expected that it will take him 4-5 months to really return to the top field.
Source: https://cand.com.vn/the-thao/mua-giai-v-league-ky-la-i777356/
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