Vietnamese Football: Short-lived Glory and the Long-term Equation

Minute 88, My Dinh Stadium erupted. Quang Hai turned and shot, the ball curling into the far corner. On the night of December 15, 2026, Vietnam won the AFF Cup for the second time, and the whole country burst into celebration. But I am not writing about that moment. I am writing about what happened after – when the lights went off, when the flags were put away, when transfer contracts were quietly signed. Vietnamese football has had a decade of glory, but it has also exposed a system bleeding talent. The national team wins, but does the football ecosystem truly win? I look at the numbers, and I see a different story. Since the 2026 AFF Cup triumph, Vietnamese football has consistently achieved success: reaching the Asian Cup quarter-finals in 2026, winning SEA Games gold in 2026 and 2026, and qualifying for the final round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers – a historic first. But what the media rarely discusses is the constant departure of young stars. From Cong Phuong and Xuan Truong to Quang Hai – all sought to go abroad, but most failed or could not compete. Meanwhile, the V-League remains a league where clubs spend based on owner money, with no sustainable development strategy. The average salary of a young player is only about 20-30 million VND per month, while stars earn up to 100 million VND, creating a huge motivational gap. Look at the data. As of 2026, only 12 Vietnamese players are playing abroad, and only 2 of them have significant playing time. In contrast, Thailand has more than 30 players abroad, and Japan has over 500. The difference is not talent – Vietnamese players have proven they can compete at the continental level – but rather the training system and development environment. Academies like PVF and HAGL Arsenal JMG have produced many talents, but they are often sold off or not given the conditions to develop in a more competitive environment. Data from VangBong.vn shows that Vietnam's Player Development Index is only 4.2/10, lower than Thailand (5.8) and Malaysia (5.1). But I do not blame the players. They are victims of a system where transfer contracts are where fan trust is misplaced. Quang Hai left Hanoi FC to go to France, but after only six months, he returned to Pau FC in Ligue 2, then came back home to join Cong An Hanoi. He is not an under-talented player – he is a product of a football nation without a player export strategy. Clubs often sell players at high prices as soon as they become famous, instead of keeping them to build a squad. This prevents the domestic league from improving, and the vicious cycle continues. I once watched a U23 Vietnam match at the 2026 AFC U23 Championship. They played with heart and excellent tactical discipline, but I noticed something few people paid attention to: they lacked physical strength and the ability to handle pressure in the final minutes. That was not their fault – it was the result of a lack of a systematic school sports and youth training system. While South Korea and Japan have scouting systems from elementary school, Vietnam still relies on private academies, which are not synchronized. Data from VangBong.vn shows that only 15% of young Vietnamese players train with scientific lesson plans, compared to 60% in Thailand. However, I could be wrong. Maybe I am too pessimistic. Look at what coach Park Hang-seo did – he created a cohesive team that overcame individual limits. But is that sustainable? When Park left, the team still performed well under Troussier, but recent results have shown a dependence on a golden generation of players. Without structural change, we will witness the return of a short-lived golden era – like Croatia after the 2026 World Cup, they are still strong but no longer the team that made the world dream. I remember the words of a young player I interviewed at a training academy in Hanoi: "We train very hard, but we don't know what the future holds. If I don't make it to the first team, I'll have to get a part-time job to make a living." That sentence haunts me. Vietnamese football is creating stars but failing to create an ecosystem for them to thrive. Clubs lack training grounds, equipment, and managers with long-term vision. But I do not want to just criticize. I want to point out that if we want Vietnamese football to truly reach the continental level, we need to change our mindset from the root. That means investing systematically in youth training, creating a more competitive domestic league, and most importantly – creating an environment where young players can fail without having their careers destroyed. I have seen young talents worn down by short-term performance pressure, pushed into the first team too early, then suffering injuries or losing form. They are the silent heroes of football, but they are not protected. So what is the solution? I do not have a perfect answer, but I have a testable prediction: in the next five years, if the V-League does not improve its professional quality and does not have at least 10 successful players going abroad, Vietnamese football will fall behind Thailand and Malaysia. We might win the AFF Cup again, but that will only be a short-lived glory. I write this not to deny success, but to remind us that in football, there is no hot take that is too early, only analysis that is posted too late. And I do not want us to live with regret.