Coach Mai Duc Chung News

Detailed introduction to the biography of Mr. Mai Duc Chung - Head coach of the Vietnam women's football team.

Coach Mai Duc Chung and the Vietnamese women's team won the gold medal at the 32nd SEA Games. (Photo: Ngoc Duong)

Overview of Coach Mai Duc Chung's biography

Coach Mai Duc Chung was born on June 21, 1951 in Ngoc Ha, Hanoi , but his hometown is Hung Yen. He is the second child in a family of 6 children.

As a child, he often watched football at Hang Day Stadium, where his mother worked.

The matches here, especially the confrontations between the Northern Vietnam team and socialist bloc teams such as China, Mongolia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea... ignited his passion for football early on.

In 1964, Mr. Chung took the entrance exam to the cultural preparatory class of Tu Son University of Physical Education and Sports and graduated in 1972.

Mr. Chung officially "fell in love" with football in 1975 when he played for the Hanoi Xe Ca Club.

Currently, Mr. Mai Duc Chung is the Head Coach of the Vietnam national women's football team.

Mr. Mai Duc Chung's career

Football career

His football career began from 1975-1984. During this time, he played for two clubs, Hanoi Taxi and Vietnam Railways.

He can play in many different positions from midfielder, striker or sometimes in the defender position.

In September 1975, he returned to play for the General Department of Railways and won the national championship for the first time in 1980. He was officially called up to the national team in 1981. In early 1984, he decided to retire from his football career.

Coaching career

Coach Mai Duc Chung’s coaching career has also been full of hardships. Before leading the Vietnamese women’s team, he was an assistant to coach Alfred Riedl at the Vietnamese national team. He then took on the role of official coach for the Vietnamese youth teams.

Coach of youth teams

Immediately after retiring, Mr. Mai Duc Chung entered the coaching path. He led the youth team of the General Department of Railways and brought home the National Youth Football Championship in 1984. From 1985, Mr. Chung became the head coach of the General Department of Railways' first team. He held this role until 1999.

During the period 2000-2002, Coach Mai Duc Chung continued to lead the ACB club (now Hanoi FC). ACB was then a transition of Vietnam Railways.

In May 2009, Mr. Mai Duc Chung was appointed as head coach of B.Binh Duong Club and brought B.Binh Duong Club to the semi-finals of the AFC Cup that year.

In April 2010, Coach Mai Duc Chung left B.Binh Duong Club. A while later, he became the head coach of Navibank Saigon Club. Under his leadership, Navibank Saigon won the National Cup championship in 2011.

In February 2013, Mr. Chung replaced coach Trieu Quang Ha to lead Thanh Hoa Club.

In 2015, he returned to lead B.Binh Duong Club in the middle of the season. He helped the Go Dau team end the season successfully by winning both the V.League and the National Cup. This was the first and only V.League championship in the career of Coach Mai Duc Chung.

Assistant

In 2007, when Alfred Riedl had to undergo a kidney transplant, Chung took over as coach of the Vietnam Olympic team. Here, he and the Vietnam Olympic team won a number of victories over West Asian opponents such as Oman and Lebanon in the 2008 Beijing Olympic qualifiers.

Mr. Chung was also assistant coach to Alfred Riedl at the 2007 Asian Cup. The Vietnamese team competed successfully at the tournament held on home soil and reached the quarter-finals. This was the first time the Vietnamese team had passed the group stage of an Asian Cup final.

Youth Team Coach

In 2017, Mr. Chung was appointed as the interim head coach to replace coach Nguyen Huu Thang to lead the Vietnam team. This was a time when the Vietnam team really faced difficulties when they were eliminated from the group stage of the 2017 SEA Games men's football event.

Coach Mai Duc Chung helped the Vietnamese team win both matches against Cambodia in the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers.

Women's Team Coach

Head coach of the Vietnamese women's team is the role that Mr. Chung has fulfilled most excellently. Over a long period of time, he has helped the Vietnamese women's team conquer new heights.

In 1997, Mr. Chung was appointed head coach of the Vietnam women's team, the first head coach of the national women's football team.

Mr. Chung helped the Vietnamese women's team achieve many outstanding achievements such as: winning the 1997 SEA Games pre-tournament and the 1997 SEA Games bronze medal. Next, he and the team won two SEA Games gold medals (in 2003 and 2005).

In 2014, VFF invited Mr. Chung back to prepare for the women's team to participate in the ASIAD. He led the Vietnamese women's team to create a big surprise when they reached the semi-finals of an ASIAD for the first time. The team finished in fourth place overall.

After that, he and the women's team won 3 SEA Games gold medals in 2017, 2019 and 2021, and won the AFF Cup in 2019. At the SEA Games alone, Mr. Chung has contributed to 5 out of 7 gold medals of the Vietnamese women's football team to date.

In early 2022, Coach Mai Duc Chung reached the peak of his career leading the Vietnamese women's team. He and the entire team successfully won a ticket to the 2023 Women's World Cup finals. This is also the first time in history that a Vietnamese women's national football team has competed in a world tournament.

Titles and achievements of coach Mai Duc Chung

B. Binh Duong

- 2015: V.League Champion

- 2019: Runner-up of V.League

NaviBank Saigon

- 2011: National Cup Champion.

U22 Vietnam

- 2008: Merdeka Cup Champion.

Vietnam women's team

- 2003, 2005, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023: Sea Games gold medal.

- 2014: 4th place ASIAD.

- 2023: Participate in Women's World Cup.

Outstanding achievements

- 2005: Vietnam's outstanding coach.

- 2019: Second Class Labor Medal.

- 2022: First Class Labor Medal.

Coaching style of Mr. Mai Duc Chung

The teams led by Mr. Chung can coordinate smoothly. When it comes to protecting the results, the teams are capable of defending with a large number of players on their home field. Besides, the teams can also play in a defensive-counterattack style, creating surprises for the opponents.

Coach Mai Duc Chung always creates a close relationship with the players and has gone beyond the pure relationship between player and coach. Former players and members often call him "Uncle Chung" or "Father Chung".

Coach Mai Duc Chung's personal life

He married Ms. Pham Thi Ngoc Uyen (born in 1952), a retired primary school teacher. They have two sons together. One of them is Mai Quang Hung (born in 1981), a former player of the Vietnam team, the same generation as Duong Hong Son, Nguyen Huy Hoang or Nguyen Viet Thang...

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