Nam Dinh declines

Thien Truong Stadium is famous for its packed seats every time Nam Dinh FC plays, but the number of spectators has decreased sharply due to the home team's poor performance.

Losing identity

As the reigning V-League champion, Nam Dinh FC has not been able to show its position as the king when it is ranked 10th on the rankings after 7 rounds. The team from the South has received 4 defeats, including 2 matches played at home. The unconvincing performance and weak fighting spirit of Nam Dinh players have made the home audience gradually lose interest in coming to the stadium to watch live.

Nam Dinh Club (right) declined in the early stages of the 2025-2026 season. Photo: VPF

This season, Nam Dinh, although lacking two key players Nguyen Xuan Son and Nguyen Van Toan due to injury, has quickly added high-quality personnel. The Thien Truong Stadium team owns a squad of high-class foreign players and is evenly distributed in all lines. However, because of being too dependent on the strength of foreign players, Nam Dinh has gradually lost its identity. Many domestic players find it difficult to compete for positions with foreign colleagues and sitting on the bench for a long time makes them lose their enthusiasm for playing.

Before the 2025-2026 season, the team's management set a goal of winning championship titles in the domestic tournament and advancing deep into the Southeast Asian Cup C1 as well as the AFC Champions League Two. But a difficult start in the early stages of the V-League caused the team to be 10 points behind the top team ( Ninh Binh FC) on the rankings.

Rekindle the fighting spirit

After 7 matches in V-League, Nam Dinh FC became one of 3 teams with the fewest goals, with 6 goals. In addition, Mr. Vu Hong Viet's students only kept a clean sheet once and conceded 10 goals. Although they have many foreign strikers and are considered to have the strongest attack in the domestic league, Nam Dinh FC's scoring efficiency has greatly disappointed fans.

After 2 consecutive years of winning the V-League, coach Vu Hong Viet's team focused all their efforts on achieving high results in the international arena. But this goal is in danger of being broken after the 1-3 loss to Gamba Osaka Club (Japan) in the 3rd match of Group F of AFC Champions League Two on October 22. This result caused Vu Hong Viet's team to lose the opportunity to rise to the top of the rankings, temporarily ranked 2nd and 3 points behind Gamba Osaka FC.

The 2025-2026 season is still long, Nam Dinh Club has every opportunity to improve its performance and return to the championship race. The task for coach Vu Hong Viet is to revive the team's fighting spirit, build a reasonable squad rotation strategy and effectively utilize personnel to adapt to the dense match schedule.

The AFC Champions League Two group stage has 3 more matches to finish and Nam Dinh FC will secure a place in the knockout round if they maintain their current position. Last season, Nam Dinh FC passed the group stage, reaching the round of 16 of AFC Champions League Two with the second place in Group G with a record of 3 wins and 2 draws after 6 matches.

Key striker Nguyen Xuan Son is expected to return to the field from November 2025 and the return of this naturalized striker will help Nam Dinh Club increase its attacking power. However, with the broken fibula and tibia that he suffered, Xuan Son will hardly be able to regain his previous peak form soon.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/nam-dinh-sa-sut-1962510232126398.htm