Which captain is suitable for the Vietnam team?

The "hot seat" of the Vietnamese team is currently vacant after the loss to the Indonesian team in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup at My Dinh Stadium, forcing coach Philippe Troussier to leave.

Fans are waiting for the choice of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) for the position of captain of the Vietnam team for long-term goals.

Which criteria are important?

According to information from VFF, the new head coach of the Vietnam national team will sign a contract before June, so that the new coach has time to get acquainted with the Vietnam national team, aiming for the best results in the remaining two matches of the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia.

Initially, VFF is expected to use a temporary coach for the two matches between Vietnam and the Philippines and Iraq in June. This is an acceptable option as there is not much time left for VFF to find a suitable and quality captain.

The Vietnam Football Federation is looking for a replacement for coach Philippe Troussier.

In the past, VFF did the same thing, inviting coach Mai Duc Chung to take temporary charge when they had not yet signed a contract with a foreign coach. VFF's search for the head coach of the Vietnam national team received special attention from the media and fans. Many criteria were set before the selection, which VFF and the National Coaching Council had to do. Among them, the criteria for the new head coach were prestige, high professional qualifications and suitability for Vietnamese football.

In addition, financial factors play a significant role in the selection of the Vietnam national team coach. It is known that the salary for the Vietnam national team coach is around 50,000 - 60,000 USD/month, which means that a certain number of candidate coaches must be selected and recruited. VFF has received about 10 applications from coaches around the world , most of whom are from Europe and Asia.

After parting ways with coach Philippe Troussier, VFF Vice President in charge of professional affairs Tran Anh Tu affirmed that VFF will need many different criteria to select the head coach of the Vietnam national team: “These criteria will help VFF evaluate whether the candidate achieves VFF’s orientation or not. Basically, coaches need to have good expertise, understand Vietnamese culture and football, and accept differences.”

In a recent meeting between the Standing Committee of the VFF Executive Committee and the National Coaching Council, they discussed the selection criteria. Nearly 60% of the VFF Executive Committee members wanted to hire a Japanese coach to lead the Vietnamese team, and the remaining 40% wanted to find a coach of Korean origin.

Meanwhile, almost no member wants to hire a European coach. However, these contents only stop at the preliminary discussion level and no official decision has been made. Finding a replacement for coach Philippe Troussier is not biased towards European or Asian coaches, the most important thing is that the candidate must meet the criteria set by VFF.

Reasonable salary, good expertise and understanding of Vietnamese football are offered to find the head coach of Vietnam. Nationality and ethnicity are factors taken into account, but the important thing when choosing is still professional level and knowledge, vision, and understanding of Vietnamese football. In the past, Vietnamese football has chosen strategists such as Edson Tavares, Dido, Falko Gotz or Letard...

Among them, European coaches such as Karl Weingang, Alfred Riedl (who have all passed away) and Henrique Calisto have made great contributions to the development of Vietnamese football. They are the ones who brought Vietnamese football from a very low level to professional football, reaching out to the region.

Appropriate gameplay philosophy

Vietnamese football has changed a lot in the last decade. The achievements in Southeast Asia have partly changed Vietnam's direction, which is to reach the continental level, and even further to participate in the World Cup - the biggest playground that any country aims for.

However, looking objectively, the changes in Vietnamese football cannot approach the World Cup. Therefore, the selection of a coach for the Vietnamese team must have a philosophy that is suitable for physical strength and physique.

Vietnam team faced difficulties against Indonesia team, match at My Dinh stadium, in the second qualifying round of World Cup 2026.

When leading the Vietnamese team, strategist Park Hang-seo chose a counter-attacking style of play. This is understandable because most Vietnamese players are agile, skillful, and have a strong fighting spirit, but they are not uniform. Coach Park Hang-seo's philosophy and style of play are consistent with the current state of Vietnamese football. The achievements of the Vietnamese team in different tournaments under Mr. Park are proof.

Meanwhile, coach Philippe Troussier's ball control style of play is well-founded, especially this strategist is confident in his changes for Vietnamese football, but the basic development foundation is not uniform, a few have a stable basic technical foundation and modern football thinking.

The World Cup dream is not something that only one coach can do. At this time, Vietnamese football is still far from the top teams in Asia, and cannot even compare with the great rival Thailand in Southeast Asia. The innovation from the position of head coach of the Vietnamese team is more awaited than ever, but to nurture the love of fans and achievements, it is not an easy thing.

When looking for candidates for the position of Vietnam national team coach, we will consider criteria related to the individual coach, not European or Asian nationality. The long-term strategy is still to develop professional tournaments and promote youth training through improving the quality of the youth tournament system. In addition, VFF is also orienting to make the Vietnam national team's strength better and better. Current football is no longer the same as before, other countries have changed, Vietnamese football also needs to change. VFF Vice President Tran Anh Tu

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