The trend of changing coaches in the V-League

06/10/2025 07:58:00 PANDATV

If Hanoi FC welcomes former English Premier League and Australian national team star Harry Kewell, not only refreshing their coaching cabin but also potentially generating a strong media effect that attracts attention and resources, Becamex TP.HCM instead announced a very old name: Dang Tran Chinh, taking the hot seat.

Outsiders can hardly keep track of how many times Mr. Chinh has served as interim head coach at Go Dau over the past 15 years, yet with nine head coaches replaced in only eight years (excluding Mr. Dang Tran Chinh), no club worldwide could find stability. From Tran Minh Chien (2017-2018), to Phan Thanh Hung, Le Huynh Duc, Hoang Anh Tuan (all veterans), then Lu Dinh Tuan, Nguyen Thanh Son, Nguyen Quoc Tuan, Nguyen Cong Manh, and even the veteran Nguyen Anh Duc have successively left...

It may take a very long time, or perhaps never, for the Thu Dau club to find stability if it continues to be managed in this manner.

In another development, after exactly 20 years away from Nghe An, coach Van Sy Son returns for the first time to "face the hometown river," where the blue Lam River has never dried up. When Son left, he was still a player; now, the former full-back has become a seasoned coach with experience in hundreds of matches, big and small.

In 2006, Van Sy Son left Nghe An to join Hanoi T&T, then playing in the second division. After helping the young representative of the capital’s football climb three tiers in three years, reaching the V-League in 2009, Son retired as a player and became an assistant to colleagues and former teammates such as Trieu Quang Ha, Nguyen Huu Thang, then senior Phan Thanh Hung, and longtime friend Chu Dinh Nghiem.

Throughout his career from player to assistant coach, Van Sy Son won many achievements, mostly at the club level. But when he stepped up as head coach, the younger member of the Van Sy family, originally from Thanh Hoa, began to experience more bitter challenges. From Binh Phuoc, where he had to give up the hot seat before even learning all the players’ names, to Quang Nam through many storms in a land where the rain soaks quickly, and now Nghe An again after floods...

Coach Anh Duc has been the most loyal figure at Becamex TP.HCM for many years but still could not hold on as the club’s head coach. Photo: Tuan Pham

During his years in Quang Nam, Van Sy Son was both leader and commander. Using his own money to improve meals or cover travel and hotel costs for the whole team was normal. But when the team secured V-League survival for the second time, it was dissolved. The former SLNA player and Hanoi FC assistant was not surprised by this outcome but still felt pain.

What comforts Van Sy Son is that he helped many of his players find new clubs. Quietly, Son returned to Hanoi, sitting there "fishing for opportunities," until his homeland called.

SLNA is clearly struggling, not only in points after six rounds of the 2025/2026 V-League but also in personnel and management. For now, coach Van Sy Son has agreed with club leaders to raise salaries and bonuses for assistants and players. Only with solid support can the team be rebuilt. Yet he did not ask for anything for himself. That is Van Sy Son—an emotional person willing to sacrifice everything for the team, without complaint.

As a commander/leader, one must understand the heavens and earth and know the hearts of the troops; must read situations and anticipate changes; know the enemy and oneself, when to advance and when to retreat; only strike when victory is certain, and the attack must seize the opportunity; one must foresee circumstances and timing before acting.

Win without arrogance, lose without discouragement; sometimes failure is beneficial. Failure itself is not frightening, but the defeat of the spirit is the most dreadful. Upon his return, the veteran and greatest modern football star of Binh Duong (V-League era), Nguyen Anh Duc, was very confident. But Duc’s failure was precisely his inability to grasp the morale of the troops—that is the defeat of the spirit. He could not find common ground with them, culminating in the departure of the key striker Tien Linh.

History is the clearest explanation for the present and future. History also shows that circumstances sometimes force us to unite; in hardship, poverty, or adversity, harmony is abundant, but it is difficult to coexist in prosperity, and rarely is there "sharing the sweet and bitter" in glory.

This is also the problem of Vietnamese club football!

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