Ho Chi Minh City Women’s Football: Hoping to Steady the Helm

15/10/2025 09:15:00 PANDATV

The Ho Chi Minh City women's football club has just successfully defended their national championship for the seventh consecutive time, making it their 15th championship title overall, including 10 titles in the last 11 seasons. This can be described as the most absolute domination in Vietnamese sports across all disciplines.

Beyond the numbers, Ho Chi Minh City parted ways with many key players such as goalkeeper Kim Thanh, Bích Thuỳ, Trần Thu, Mỹ Anh, yet they still retained their championship status. Along with young players like K'Thủa, Kim Liên, Cù Huỳnh Như, and Phan Trang, the senior players Chương Thị Kiều, Huỳnh Như, Thuỳ Trang, Bảo Châu, Thu Em, and Thu Thảo continue to demonstrate consistent performance and experience. Put differently, Ho Chi Minh City is not only strong but also has remarkable squad depth, reflecting long-term investment to maintain their dominance.

Congratulations to the Ho Chi Minh City club, but concerns remain for Vietnamese women's football. This year's national championship only has six clubs competing, with Ho Chi Minh City entering two teams. Meanwhile, Thái Nguyên T&T is essentially another version of Hanoi, and the other two teams are the well-known Phong Phú Hà Nam and Than Khoáng Sản Việt Nam. This number is too small for a football nation that has previously participated in the World Cup and has serious ambitions to qualify again.

The best player of the tournament is Trần Thị Thùy Trang, the current Golden Ball winner, who is now 37 years old and a star on the Vietnamese women's futsal team. The top scorer award is not surprising, going to Hanoi striker Phạm Hải Yến, who has claimed this personal title five times in her career despite being 31 years old. The standout star of the tournament remains Huỳnh Như. In other words, the Vietnamese women's championship is an old narrative, repeated year after year, with no new developments.

Although Thuỳ Trang has reached 37 years old, she still won the Best Player award at the 2025 national women's football championship. Photo: Kim Như

Therefore, the hope is that members of Vietnamese women's football will "steady the helm." For instance, Ho Chi Minh City, which is the core of the national team, benefits from good investment thanks to the President of the Ho Chi Minh City Football Federation (HFF), Trần Anh Tú, also known as “Bầu Tú” of futsal.

During his three terms leading the HFF, Mr. Tú has overseen the absolute dominance of both women’s football and futsal. His dedication and passion are indisputable, but what if he were not there? Therefore, there is hope that “Bầu Tú” will continue his journey with football.

Ho Chi Minh City club is not only strong but seems to have better motivation thanks to salary and bonus systems, opportunities to join the national team, compete in the Asian Cup, and favorable conditions that attract talent. Naturally, this will increase difficulties for other clubs in developing their internal strength…

From this perspective, the women's national championship is still maintained, still sponsored financially by Mr. Trần Anh Tú’s business, and simply continuing to the end is a great effort for these female players. However, looking more broadly, we have yet to see any breakthrough at the club level that could shape the future of the national team.

Efforts to transform women's football seem to remain stagnant, relying solely on the passion and sacrifices of individuals who have been connected with women's football for two decades.

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