Reflecting on youth football

In more than 5 years of the national teams under coach Park Hang Seo, not everyone remembers that, to have such unprecedented achievements, clubs, academies or football centers such as HAGL, Hanoi FC, SLNA, Khanh Hoa, PVF, Viettel ... had to invest a lot of money for nearly a decade.

The picture below is a lunch of the U10 and U12 youth team of Thang Long Sports Center, Binh Tan, Ho Chi Minh City, which has also been a "furnace" of District 5 for over 10 years. This generation of players, including the writer's son (born in 2012), will participate in the U12 Ho Chi Minh City Finals after 3 weeks of gathering. The meal even lacks a lot of nutrients, but that is self-reliance. According to Coach Nguyen Thanh Nam, how much passion is enough, if one day you... run out of money to take care of the kids?!

Let me tell you, dear readers, even though it is just a private center established by a diligent teacher like Nguyen Thanh Nam more than 10 years ago, meals like this are still very delicious, compared to many football centers or club-level academies in Vietnam.

As The Thao & Van Hoa reported in previous issues, there is information that for every 10 billion VND sponsored for SLNA football, 9.5 billion will be allocated to the first team. Only 0.5 billion VND is left for the youth teams. But who are the youth teams of SLNA and how many people, how much cost?! It seems that we spend too little investment on youth football, but still expect optimal output (top-level football). From teachers to workers, even managers are weak and lacking, not to mention the budget. Vietnamese football does not lack talent, but it is often neglected, which is the reason.

A meal for young players at Thang Long Sports Center, Binh Tan, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: CCKM

The mechanism is already entangled, even the reality with youth training, which is the backbone of football, is still entangled and difficult in many ways. Many professional clubs, such as Hai Phong, SHB Da Nang, B.Binh Duong or Khanh Hoa..., even disbanded their youth teams. Then, all of them wait for investors and wait for successful purchases with money. But where does the money come from?!

Back to the issue we mentioned at the beginning of the article. Young people are the future of football, but how many people do football without profit but with their heart?! In Ho Chi Minh City, the author would like to introduce at least 2 people, that is expert Doan Minh Xuong, who has led many generations of players from the Central Sports University 2, now Thu Duc, Ho Chi Minh City to become professionals; the other person is Nguyen Thanh Nam, a physical education teacher with a passion for football. In Khanh Hoa, that is Duong Quang Ho, in Da Nang, that is Phan Thanh Hung, Bui Thong Tan...

Nearly 30 clubs and private community football centers will participate in the U12 Finals in Ho Chi Minh City scheduled to take place at the end of June. Previously, some (15 teams out of 48 clubs) had passed the national U11 qualifying round to be able to participate in the upcoming Finals in the Central Highlands, including Ngoc Hung Private Football Center, led by former national player Nguyen Thanh Long Giang. Who invested in these Centers, such as Ngoc Hung or Thanh Nam, is the Ho Chi Minh City Football Federation (HFF)? They are just professional social organizations.

The opening of Community Football Centers or Private Football Academies is very good and useful for children and especially their parents. However, most of them are still spontaneous, without (or have not yet) any direction from local Football Federations or higher, VFF, and perhaps that is one of the reasons why it is difficult for us to have stable achievements with youth football.

( According to https://thethaovanhoa.vn/su-viec-y-kien-suy-ngam-cung-bong-da-tre-20230606230728457.htm)

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