V.League 1

The Vietnamese football league system was formed in 1955. From the beginning, this League (AKA the Northern league) was split into Division A and Division B. The South Vietnamese league was formed in 1960. Since then, league football has been played north and south even during war time. The number of teams was extraordinary. For example, Haiphong had 10 clubs back then.^[1] Haiphong Police has won 10 titles in the North, while Thể Công has won 13.

After reunification, Vietnamese football leagues were played on a regional basis: Hồng Hà League in the North; Trường Sơn League in the Central; and Cửu Long League in the South.

Responding to the constraints of organizing in regions, VFF reorganised the league system during the 1979 season.

The V.League 1, as it is known today, began in 1980 when the first All Vietnam Football Championship was launched. Seventeen clubs participated in the competition (originally 18, but Thể Công withdrawn due to internal reasons) which was split into three groups and conducted more like a cup competition, with the winner from each group qualifying for the Championship Stage. Công An Hà Nội, Tổng Cục Đường Sắt and Hải Quan were the three teams to qualify, with Tổng Cục Đường Sắt ultimately taking the title. That format, reduced to two groups, continued until 1995 when the league reverted to a more traditional league format.

League football in Vietnam turned professional in the 2000–2001 season, which saw the league change its name to its current moniker, V-League 1. In that inaugural V-League 1 season, only ten clubs participated, with tighter restrictions meaning fewer teams. Over the next decade, the league grew from 10 teams to the current fourteen, with the team that finishes on top of the table qualifying for the AFC Champions League Group Stage. Clubs were allowed to hire foreign players from this season on.

Following a season marred by accusations of refereeing corruption and a cover-up by the V.League governing body Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), six clubs (Đồng Tâm Long An, Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, Hanoi ACB, Vissai Ninh Bình, Khatoco Khánh Hòa and Lam Sơn Thanh Hóa^[2]) threatened to leave the league and form an entirely new league for the 2012 season. The most outspoken club in the move was Hanoi ACB, who had been relegated from the V.League, with its chairman Nguyễn Đức Kiên announcing that ACB would spearhead the move. Due to the controversy, EximBank expressed its intention to drop its title sponsorship of the league. League officials scrambled to resolve the issues, going so far as to hire foreign referees for the 2012 season.^[3][4] After a meeting on 29 September, representatives of the VFF, the 14 V.League 1 teams, and 14 V.League 2 teams announced the formation of a new corporation, the VPF, Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company to manage the V-League. The VFF would hold a 36% stake in the new corporation, and the rest would be held by clubs.^[2]

From the 2012 season, the organising power was transferred from the VFF to the VPF (Vietnamese Professional Football), and the "V.League 1" was renamed the "Super League". This name change was short-lived, reverting to "V.League 1" later in the season. The first division was renamed the "V.League 2". At the same time, many clubs found themselves with financial problems and sponsor issues, and many withdrew, merged, bought another club, or failed to meet league requirements. As a result, the number of clubs in each league changed dramatically.

From 2023, the V.League's schedule will be restructured. The 2023 V.League 1 season was the last season to be played from spring to autumn format. The 2023–24 V.League 1 season will also be played to mark the change, running from autumn 2023 to near summer 2024, in line with most domestic leagues in the world.^[5]

• The V.League 1 season starts in February/March and ends in September. In each season, each club plays each of the other clubs twice, once at home and another away, for a total of 26 games.
• Teams are ranked by total points, head-to-head, goal difference and goals scored.
• Top team qualifies for AFC Champions League Group stage.
• For 2010 season, two bottom teams are relegated to the Vietnam First Division while third lowest placed team goes to play-off with the third highest placed team from the First Division.^[6]
• Starting in the 2013 season, the number of clubs participating in the V.League 1 would be decreased from fourteen to twelve after three clubs failed to register. Also in the same season, the bottom team will be relegated to the First Division while the top three teams from the First Division will be promoted into the V-League 1.^[7]
• Starting in the 2015 season, the league is competed by 14 teams.^[8]

Since the 2000–2001 season, the V.League 1 has been branded with a principal sponsor's name and logo. The following companies have acted as principal sponsors:^[9]

After Xuân Thành Sài Gòn was docked points for what the VFF deemed the club's unsportsmanlike conduct in fielding a non-competitive squad for their Matchday 20 meeting with Sông Lam Nghệ An, club officials announced that the club would withdraw from the league. On 22 August 2013, the VFF approved Xuân Thành Sài Gòn's withdrawal request. Matches involving the club were vacated. The VFF is still debating if the last place club will still be relegated to V.League 2, though the league charter states that the club in 12th place would be the only club relegated in the 2013 campaign.^[14]

Relegation was cancelled for the 2013 campaign after Xuân Thành Sài Gòn withdrew from the V.League 1 before the conclusion of the season.^[15] QNK Quảng Nam, Than Quảng Ninh and Hùng Vương An Giang, as winners, first runners-up and second runners-up respectively, were promoted from the 2013 V.League 2 season. Kienlongbank Kiên Giang failed to apply for the 2014 campaign and subsequently folded during the offseason.^[16]

Vissai Ninh Bình wrote to the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and to the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company to be allowed to stop their participation in the league and also the AFC Cup due to 13 players being involved in match fixing. They had played eight league matches and were third from bottom at the time.^[17] Following their withdrawal from the league, all their results were declared null and void.^[18]

Due to the match fixing scandal and withdrawal of Vissai Ninh Bình, it was decided that the bottom-placed team at the end of the season will take part in a play-off match against the third-placed team in the First Division for the right to play in the V-League next season.^[19]

On July 5, 2019, Đoàn Nguyên Đức, chairman of Hoàng Anh Gia Lai Club, commented on the situation of one owner owning multiple teams in the V.League. When TP.HCM was leading the standings, talking about TP.HCM's chances of winning the championship this season, bầu Đức said: "I always confirm that TP.HCM cannot win the V.League this year because they are one team, how to face 5 teams. 5 skinny guys beat one fat guy, how can the fat guy stand it?"^[20]. Bầu Đức's statement was reminiscent of Đỗ Quang Hiển - who was then the owner and special sponsor of 7 clubs in the V.League 1 and V.League 2.^[21] Previously, in 2018, Đoàn Nguyên Đức also said that the situation of one owner owning multiple teams would reduce the motivation to invest in Vietnamese football.^[22] Public opinion believes that in the 10 years from 2009 to 2019, only two consecutive championships in 2018 and 2019 were Hanoi FC clearly demonstrating their strength, thanks to a national team squad that sometimes reached 10 people; the remaining championships all had the "fingerprints" of the point-scoring relationships between Hanoi - Da Nang - Quang Nam - Saigon - Quang Ninh - Hong Linh Ha Tinh (which are the clubs of Bầu Hiển).^[23][24] The 2022 season also met with controversy when there was a current of public opinion that the 2022 V.League championship of Hanoi FC was also partly due to referee decisions in favor of the purple team.^[25] In addition, Bầu Hiển also caused a lot of controversy when he personally went down to encourage and give money to his own teams in matches between teams related to Bầu Hiển, such as with Saigon, Quang Nam,^[20] or SHB Da Nang.^[26][27][28] In 2012, after Sài Gòn Xuân Thành failed to win the championship when they were held to a draw by Hà Nội T&T in the final round, allowing SHB Đà Nẵng to win, owner Nguyễn Đức Thụy announced that he would quit football because of too much injustice and oppression; in the 2013 season, he officially disbanded the team. FLC Group chairman Trịnh Văn Quyết, after withdrawing sponsorship from Thanh Hóa in 2018, also hinted that "you can't win when you only have one team."^[20]

The situation of one owner managing or owning multiple teams has become a problem that causes many fans to worry, especially about the transparency and fairness when these teams compete in the same league. Not a few fans hope that VPF needs to take strong measures, specify regulations on banning one person from holding management positions or shares, capital contributions at more than 1 team in the same league to make V.League more fair, cleaner and improve the competitiveness of the tournament.^[29]

In recent years, the phenomenon of "asking for points and giving points" has become a headache for organizers, as the tournament is believed to have emerged as some alliances between football teams. The situation of "accumulating points" to win or stay in the league often occurs in V.League, in which the formula of "3 away – 3 return" has become popular for teams in an alliance to maximize points for each other. In addition to accumulating points, teams in the alliance also put their efforts to hinder the opponents of the winning candidate belonging to their alliance.^[30] Many matches have taken place with abnormal manifestations that have caused anger for fans because of the spirit of competition that is considered to be weak, not giving their all.^[31] The tournament organizer has also repeatedly issued sanctions, such as subtracting points from football teams in matches that are not active, but the situation of "giving points" still continues.^[32]

The People's Police newspaper noted that the problem of match-fixing is also related to the issue of "one owner, multiple teams". In 2017, the public raised many doubts when Hanoi FC, who were full of hope to win the championship, unexpectedly drew 4-4 with Than Quảng Ninh in a match that the capital team had led by 2 goals. It is worth noting that this score was just enough for Quảng Nam to win the championship for the first time.^[33] Statistics from the 2019 season show that Ho Chi Minh City FC only won 23% of points from Đà Nẵng, Sài Gòn, Quảng Nam and Quảng Ninh, while Hà Nội received 13 out of 15 maximum points before these teams. In the 2017 season, FLC Thanh Hóa lost 22 points to the "brotherhood" group while Quảng Nam lost 9 points.^[30]

To monitor and control suspicious matches, VPF has previously partnered with Sportradar, a football betting control company, and then Genius Sports (headquartered in Singapore and with a global network) since the 2019 season.^[34] In a statement in the 2022 season, VPF had to ask the teams to play their best, not to give points to each other.^[35][36]

The refereeing issue has been going on in the tournament for many years and has caused a lot of resentment in the public. Many controversial decisions, even mistakes by referees, have eroded the trust of clubs and fans in the organizers, and the image of the tournament has also been affected.^[37] In a statement in the 2023 season, Vũ Tiến Thành, the coach of HCM City Club, said that there is a group of referees who are manipulated, and some referees are making the image of the refereeing force worse. Thành also questioned the referee's ideology when working.^[38]

The referee assignment for the tournament has also been questioned. This has led to the disappointment of fans when some referees who do not meet the standards are often assigned to important matches. Some people even question whether the referees are "not biased then weak in terms of expertise" when there have been too many mistakes occurring continuously.^[39] One of the temporary solutions proposed to address this situation is to hire foreign referees to officiate some of the tournament matches.^[40]

Due to the continuous occurrence of refereeing errors, which have affected the results of matches, the need to equip VAR for V.League has become increasingly urgent to improve the quality of the tournament.^[41][42] From the end of 2022, VPF has begun to carry out the necessary procedures to soon implement VAR in V.League. VPF expects VAR to begin to be deployed on a trial basis from the second phase of the 2023 season, before being applied officially from the 2023-2024 season.^[43][44]

The V.League regulations typically stipulate that clubs are not allowed to exploit sponsorships with brands and industries that compete with the league's main sponsor since the date the league regulations are issued or when notified by the organizer. However, if the team already has a main sponsor that operates in the same industry as the league's main sponsor from before or has an owner (shareholder) who holds the highest number of shares has business operations in the same industry as the league's main sponsor, then their rights are still protected.^[45][46][47] The cases of Hoàng Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) in 2018 with VPMilk and in 2022 with Red Bull are typical examples of this exception.

However, ahead of the 2023 season, when VPF announced to HAGL that the team's new sponsor (Carabao Corporation) was in conflict of interest with the league's main sponsor and requested the team not to use the images of the new sponsor within the scope of the tournament, controversy ensued.^[48] VPF's regulations were met with fierce backlash from fans who were accused of making it difficult for clubs, hindering the development of Vietnamese football.^[49] HAGL also said that VPF's decision was "completely unreasonable and did not create conditions for the club to develop," and threatened to withdraw from V.League if VPF did not allow them to advertise for the new sponsor.^[50]

Television rights have been one of the most pressing issues in the top-tier club competition in Vietnam for many years. The first time V.League "sold" television rights was in the 2005 season.^[51] However, the value of the contract signed between VFF and the television stations at that time was not really significant.^[52] In order for a match to be broadcast live, VFF and the clubs had to pay a fee and even cover the cost of accommodation, travel, and allowances for the television station.^[53]

At the end of 2010, the V.League broadcasting rights were sold by VFF to An Vien Television (AVG) for 20 years, with a price of VND 6 billion for the first year and then a 10% annual increase. However, after the establishment of VPF, this company took back the V.League broadcasting rights contract from AVG and committed to exploiting at least VND 50 billion per year from the broadcasting rights. However, the deal fell through at the last minute after bầu Kiên was arrested.^[54]

In October 2022, VPF reached a television rights agreement with FPT Telecom for 5 seasons, from the 2023 season to the 2026–27 season.^[55] The agreement ensures that each year, FPT Telecom will pay 2.5 million USD for one season, 20 times higher than the previous contract, and on average, each club will receive several billion dong in television rights in one season.^[56]

 

 

Becamex Binh Duong

 

Nam Dinh

 

Hanoi

 

Haiphong

 

Hong Linh Ha Tinh

 

Binh Dinh

 

Quang Nam

 

SHB Da Nang

 

Song Lam Nghe An

 

Dong A Thanh Hoa

 

Ho Chi Minh City

 

Hanoi teams
Hanoi
Thể Công-Viettel
Hanoi Police

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Locations of the 2024-25 V.League 1 teams

Fourteen clubs compete in the V.League 1's, with one coming from the V.League 2's previous season:

^a Founding member of the V.League 1
^b Never been relegated from the V.League 1

Clubs are allowed to register three foreign players per season.^[57] In prior seasons, clubs were allowed to register only two foreign players.

From 2015 season, the number of foreign players allowed for clubs was reduced to 2 players plus 1 naturalised player.

From 2019 season, the rules on foreign players changed again. The number of foreign players allowed for clubs are 3 players and 1 naturalised player.^[58]

Season[9]	Name	Club	Goals
1980	Lê Văn Đặng	Công an Hà Nội	10
1981–1982	Võ Thành Sơn	Sở Công Nghiệp	15
1982–1983	Nguyễn Cao Cường	Thể Công	22
1984	Nguyễn Văn Dũng	Nam Định	15
1985	Nguyễn Văn Dũng	Nam Định	15
1986	Nguyễn Văn Dũng   Nguyễn Minh Huy	Nam Định Hải Quan	12
1987–1988	Lưu Tấn Liêm	Hải Quan	15
1989	Hà Vương Ngầu Nại	Cảng Sài Gòn	10
1990	Nguyễn Hồng Sơn	Thể Công	10
1991	Hà Vương Ngầu Nại	Cảng Sài Gòn	10
1992	Trần Minh Toàn	Quảng Nam-Đà Nẵng	6
1993–1994	Nguyễn Công Long   Bùi Sỹ Thành	Bình Định Long An	12
1995	Trần Minh Chiến	Công an Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh	14
1996	Lê Huỳnh Đức	Công an Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh	25
1997	Lê Huỳnh Đức	Công an Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh	16
1998	Nguyễn Văn Dũng	Nam Định	17
1999 Unofficial	Vũ Minh Hiếu	Công an Hà Nội	8
1999–2000	Văn Sỹ Thủy	Sông Lam Nghệ An	14
2000–2001	Đặng Đạo	Khánh Hòa	11
2001–2002	Hồ Văn Lợi	Cảng Sài Gòn	9
2003	Emeka Achilefu	Nam Định	11
2004	Amaobi Uzowuru	Nam Định	15
2005	Kesley Alves	Becamex Bình Dương	21
2006	Elenildo de Jesus	Thép Miền Nam Cảng Sài Gòn	18
2007	Jose Emidio de Almeida	SHB Đà Nẵng	16
2008	Jose Emidio de Almeida	SHB Đà Nẵng	23
2009	Gastón Merlo   Lazaro de Souza	SHB Đà Nẵng Quân khu 4	15
2010	Gastón Merlo	SHB Đà Nẵng	19
2011	Gastón Merlo	SHB Đà Nẵng	22
2012	Timothy Anjembe	Hà Nội ACB	17
2013	Gonzalo Marronkle   Samson Olaleye[a]	Hà Nội T&T	14
2014	Hoàng Vũ Samson[a]	Hà Nội T&T	23
2015	Patiyo Tambwe	QNK Quảng Nam	18
2016	Gastón Merlo	SHB Đà Nẵng	24
2017	Nguyễn Anh Đức	Becamex Bình Dương	17
2018	Oseni Ganiyu	Hà Nội	17
2019	Pape Omar Faye   Bruno Cantanhede	Hà Nội Viettel	15
2020	Rimario Gordon   Pedro Paulo	Hà Nội Sài Gòn	12
2022	Rimario Gordon	Hải Phòng	17
2023	Rafaelson	Topenland Bình Định	16
2023-24	Rafaelson	Thép Xanh Nam Định	31

Since the 2000 season, when foreign players could play in the league, the top goalscorers have always been foreign players or naturalised players (except Nguyễn Anh Đức from Becamex Bình Dương in 2017 season)

The V.League Awards is an award given annually by the Vietnam Professional Football Jointstock Company for the best players, head coaches, and referees of the league. Since 2012, the awards are given in a ceremony at the end of the league season.^[59][60]

The following is a historical list of champions and runners-up of the V.League 1 by season. Superscripts in brackets (such as ⁽²⁾) indicate a repeat win.

The rankings of the V.League 1 teams in the 1980-1996 seasons are not official, because those seasons have not been organized in a round-robin format but are divided into several stages. In these seasons, the ranking of each team is arranged as follows:
1. Any team that enters the next stage is ranked above the teams that only stopped at the previous stage.
2. In the same period of any season, the rankings of the teams are arranged according to the rules and regulations of that season.

From the 1997 season, the rankings of the teams are official.

As there is no record of the group stage results for the 1990 and 1992 seasons, the rankings of some of the teams in these two seasons are uncertain.

^{[61][circular reference]}

Figures as of 14 January 2021, primary source: http://www.rsssf.com/tablesv/vietchamp.html

This is the following is a V.League 1 table of statistics of seasons, number of matches and results of each team in all 38 national championship football seasons.

Match figures and match results excluding the 2021 season have not been completed and the seasons are not recorded, namely the 1990 and 1992 group stages; second round of the 1995 season; two games in the group stage of the 1996 season.

The total number of matches recorded is 5236 of which there are 3,824 wins and losses and 1412 draws. The total number of goals is 13783, the average number of goals in a match is: 2.63.

Key

Boldface indicates clubs playing in 2021 season

Top ten players with most appearances

Player		Period	Club(s)	Games
1	Lê Tấn Tài	2003–2022	Sanna Khánh Hòa BVN 217, Hải Phòng 11, Becamex Bình Dương 155, Hồng Lĩnh Hà Tĩnh 6, Hà Nội 16, Khánh Hoà 19	434
2	Nguyễn Thế Anh	1965–1984	Thể Công 412	412
3	Nguyễn Hồng Sơn	1988–2005	Thể Công 401	430
4	Đặng Phương Nam	1992–2007	Thể Công 388	388
5	Phan Văn Tài Em	2002–2011	Long An 305, Navibank Sài Gòn 44, Xuân Thành Sài Gòn 27	376
6	Nguyễn Anh Đức	2006–2022	Đông Á Bank 9, Becamex Bình Dương 355, Hoàng Anh Gia Lai 3, Long An 5	367
7	Nguyễn Cao Cường	1973–1990	Thể Công 332	332
8	Phạm Thành Lương	2005–2023	Hà Nội ACB 144, Hà Nội 186	330
9	Dương Hồng Sơn	1998–2015	Sông Lam Nghệ An 206, Hà Nội 95	301
10	Nguyễn Minh Phương	1998–2015	Cảng Sài Gòn 95, Long An 171, SHB Đà Nẵng 38,	294
–	Nguyễn Minh Châu	2003–2017	Hải Phòng 294	294

Boldface indicates a player still active in the V.League 1.

Player		Period	Clubs (mostly known as)	Goals
1	Hoàng Vũ Samson	2007–	Đồng Tháp, Hà Nội, Quảng Nam, Thanh Hóa, Ho Chi Minh City	202
2	Đỗ Merlo	2009–	SHB Đà Nẵng, Nam Định, Sài Gòn	157
3	Nguyễn Văn Dũng	1983–1999	Nam Định, Sông Lam Nghệ An, Thanh Hóa	130
4	Nguyễn Anh Đức	2006–2022	Đông Á Bank, Becamex Bình Dương, Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, Long An	127
5	Nguyễn Cao Cường	1973–1990	Thể Công	127
6	Lê Công Vinh	2004–2016	Sông Lam Nghệ An, Hà Nội T&T, Hà Nội ACB, Becamex Bình Dương	116
7	Huỳnh Kesley Alves	2003–2019	Becamex Bình Dương, Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, Sài Gòn Xuân Thành, Sanna Khánh Hòa BVN, Hồ Chí Minh City	113
8	Nguyễn Văn Quyết	2011–	Hà Nội	113
9	Antonio Carlos	2003–2015	Long An	94
10	Gonzalo Marronkle	2009–2017	Hà Nội	81

Boldface indicates a player still active in the V.League 1.

• Vietnam Football Federation
• Football in Vietnam
• North Vietnam V-League and South Vietnam V-League – Before 1980
• List of football clubs in Vietnam
• List of top-division football clubs in AFC countries
• List of association football competitions

Notes

References

• Official website
• Vietnam Football Federation
• League at FIFA
• League at soccerway.com
• Vietnam – List of Champions at RSSSF