New force in V-League

With 2 consecutive wins to rise to the top of the rankings, Ninh Binh Club shows its position as a candidate for the 2025-2026 V-League championship.

Returning to the V-League after 11 years of absence, Ninh Binh Club has been heavily invested with abundant operating funds, bringing in top Vietnamese football players. With careful preparation, coach Gerard Albadalejo Castaño's team started the season impressively.

Revealing ambition

After winning the National First Division and gaining promotion, Ninh Binh Club clearly showed its ambition to win the V-League 2025-2026. The team's management spent a lot of money to bring in a team of famous coaches and experienced foreign players from Spain.

Building a team with a modern attacking football philosophy, coach Gerard Albadalejo helps his players develop their abilities. National players such as Nguyen Hoang Duc, Chau Ngoc Quang, Dang Van Lam, Nguyen Duc Chien, Dung Quang Nho, Nguyen Quoc Viet or Tran Bao Toan... all reach their peak performance, playing like "possessed" when placed in their best positions.

Ninh Binh Club (left) caused a surprise in the first leg of V-League 2025-2026 (Photo: VPF)

In round 1, Ninh Binh FC surprised the entire V-League with a 3-1 victory at Hong Linh Ha Tinh 's home ground. Last season, Ha Tinh was the team with the longest unbeaten streak in the V-League, losing only one match at home. But when hosting Ninh Binh FC, the Hong Mountain team had to accept defeat with 3 goals conceded.

Similarly, Thanh Hoa once set a record of winning the National Cup twice in a row (2023 and 2023-2024 seasons), and is a tough opponent that makes the "big guys" of the V-League wary every time they face each other. But in the second round of the V-League this season, the Thanh team had to accept a 4-0 defeat against the "newcomer" of the V-League.

Hong Linh Ha Tinh and Dong A Thanh Hoa are both teams that are hard to beat but both lost heavily to Ninh Binh Club. After 2 rounds, Hoang Duc and his teammates have scored 7 goals, only conceded 1 goal, are the only team to win all, and are alone at the top of the V-League 2025-2026 rankings.

Ninh Binh Club always has a higher ball possession rate and more shots on goal than the opponent. Coach Gerard Albadalejo's team also shows flexibility in changing state, changing tactics, suitable for each opponent.

Notably, Ninh Binh's attacking tactics are very diverse, all positions on the field can score goals. The players who scored for Ninh Binh in the 2 rounds include: defender Quang Nho, midfielder Duc Chien, striker Gia Hung and 2 foreign players Daniel Da Silva Dos Anjos, Gustavo Henrique.

With an excellent start, Ninh Binh Club showed a cohesive style of play, fierce fighting spirit and admirable bravery. When the championship candidates could not accumulate maximum points in the last 2 rounds and fell behind, football experts said that Ninh Binh Club could achieve the achievement of being crowned V-League champion after being promoted, similar to what Hanoi Police did in the 2023 season.

However, the real challenge for the Hoa Lu ancient capital team will appear from round 4, when coach Albadalejo and his team will face Nam Dinh, The Cong Viettel and Ha Noi. The results of these championship candidates' matches will test the strength of Ninh Binh Club.

The "big guys" stumble

The opening stage of V-League 2025-2026 also witnessed many surprises, when defending champion Nam Dinh received the first loss early and defending runner-up Hanoi FC has not known the "taste" of victory.

Nam Dinh FC recruited a series of strong foreign players with the ambition to compete for domestic and international titles this season. However, coach Vu Hong Viet's team had a difficult start to the new season. They lost to Cong An Ha Noi in the 2024-2025 National Super Cup, struggled to come from behind to beat Hai Phong in the first round of the V-League at Thien Truong Stadium, then "lost everything" when they lost to Song Lam Nghe An at the "fire pit" Vinh Stadium in the second round.

More tragically, Hanoi FC suffered a defeat on the opening day of the 2025-2026 V-League, when they played away at Thong Nhat Stadium against Ho Chi Minh City Police Club. Returning to their home stadium Hang Day for the second round, the capital team, despite being considered stronger than Hoang Anh Gia Lai, was still forced to share points with the opponent after a goalless draw.

Both Hanoi and Nam Dinh have a squad of highly skilled players in the V-League, but the connection between the lines is not smooth, causing the ability to operate tactical strategies to stumble. In addition, the reason why the two candidates for the V-League championship are unsteady in the early stages of the season stems from the slow pace of the rookie players.

"Round 3 begins on August 27 and the highlight of the round takes place at Hang Day, with the capital "derby" between Hanoi Police and Hanoi Club (at 7:15 p.m. on August 28).

Source: https://nld.com.vn/the-luc-moi-tai-v-league-196250825200134382.htm