V-League 2025/26: At the two ends of longing

24/10/2025 08:45:00 ScoreStream

HAGL, SHB Đà Nẵng..., two former V-League champions, find themselves at the bottom of the table this season. In reality, insiders have already anticipated this outcome, even though the league is only at its seventh round.

HAGL, mainly consisting of second-string young players and average foreign recruits, struggles to compete against Vietnam’s stronger teams. Professional football is very demanding. Over 20 years ago, HAGL was the top team, but the situation is different now.

The people of Gia Lai, starting with chairman Bầu Đức and the club’s executives, were overly confident in the product created by the Hàm Rồng Academy, even though it was an outstanding product. This overconfidence partly led to their later failure.

In the 2015 season, Bầu Đức and his team decided to terminate contracts with many key players to place their faith in Công Phượng and his teammates, who had recently gained recognition in domestic football. The result was that the club only secured survival in the final match against Đồng Nai, thanks to Minh Vương’s free kick. At that time, coach Nguyễn Quốc Tuấn was acting head coach.

Returning to the issue raised at the start of this article, HAGL, SHB Đà Nẵng, SLNA, Becamex Bình Dương, TP.HCM, and even Hà Nội FC are all currently weaker compared to new forces like Ninh Bình and Nam Định, which is quite normal. Times change. The Hà Nội FC empire effectively ended after their 2022 V-League championship. It may take a long time for them to return to that level.

Recently, Thể Công Viettel’s coach Velizar Popov caused a stir in Vietnamese football by stating that winning the V-League requires many more factors beyond just the technical skills displayed in matches. Photo: Hoàng Linh

Coach Velizar Popov of Thể Công Viettel recently stated that winning the V-League demands far more than just the technical aspects of the games.

Ninh Bình FC currently holds the lead in the V-League 2025/2026 standings, and if they do not win this season, it would be considered a surprise.

It is unfortunate that the former champions of Vietnam’s top league can no longer keep pace with the new dominant forces. But that is the nature of professional football.

Southern clubs almost cannot adapt to the professional model. Money is the fundamental issue, followed by personnel, but first and foremost is the way football is managed. For many years ahead, V-League championships will likely continue to be won by northern clubs, as they have been for the past decade.

That is what "at the two ends of longing" means. This season is difficult for both HAGL and Thanh Hóa.

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