Ho Chi Minh City football awaits a "new wind"

After merging provincial administrative units, Ho Chi Minh City has 2 football teams participating in the V-League season 2025-2026, including: Ho Chi Minh City Club and Binh Duong .

"Red Battleship" changes personnel

Despite their successful relegation, Ho Chi Minh City FC's performance has not satisfied the home fans. As the football representative of the largest city in the country, the "red battleship" has always been in a situation of worrying about relegation for many consecutive seasons. The best achievement of the Thong Nhat Stadium team in recent years was the runner-up position in V-League in 2019.

Last season, coach Phung Thanh Phuong's team did not have a strong squad and had to wait until round 25 to secure their place in the league, finishing in 10th place. The reason for the decline of Ho Chi Minh City Club was due to limited operating budget players and the inability to bring in foreign with high professional quality.

Bóng đá TP HCM chờ — Ho Chi Minh City Club (left) and Binh Duong will have new steps forward in the 2025-2026 season. Photo: QUOC AN

With a weak squad and difficulty in rotating players evenly, Coach Phung Thanh Phuong can only use a defensive style of play. Therefore, Mr. Phuong and his team have become the team with the lowest scoring efficiency in V-League 2024-2025, with 19 goals after 26 rounds.

Ahead of the 2025-2026 season, Ho Chi Minh City Club said goodbye to coach Phung Thanh Phuong and assistant Hua Hien Vinh. The leadership of the "red battleship" is expected to recruit a Spanish strategist, in order to change its identity and tactics in the new season. In the selection list, coach Albert Capellas is the leading candidate. This strategist used to be an assistant at FC Barcelona, then worked at Borussia Dortmund in 2017. Most recently, Mr. Capellas led the Philippines team.

Many key players who helped Ho Chi Minh City FC stay in the league also left the team after the last season, including midfielder trio Endrick Dos Santos Parafita, Hoang Vinh Nguyen, Nguyen Minh Trung, defender Nguyen Thanh Thao and striker João Pedro Boeira Duarte.

The urgent task of Ho Chi Minh City Club is to find many trustworthy sponsors with abundant financial resources, to avoid the situation of "eating by the day", late or unpaid salaries and bonuses, which has caused the players' fighting spirit to decline.

Binh Duong Club rebuilds from scratch

In the past 3 years, B.Binh Duong Club has struggled and only lingered in the relegation race. Once a force in Vietnamese football, rich in achievements and considered a "rich" team in V-League with the nickname "Vietnamese Chelsea", Binh Duong Club has not been able to return to the top position of domestic football.

Possessing a good squad and expected to compete for the championship title in domestic tournaments, Binh Duong Club disappointed fans when they were "left empty-handed". The Go Dau Stadium team only ranked 7th in the V-League overall and was eliminated after the semi-finals of the National Cup. More regrettably, key striker Nguyen Tien Linh - Vietnam Golden Ball 2024 - also lost the title of "Top scorer" of V-League 2024-2025 due to a decline in performance at the finish line.

Unable to achieve the set goal, coach Nguyen Anh Duc has taken drastic measures to clean up the squad, saying goodbye to foreign players including striker Timite Cheick Aymar and midfielder Abdurakhmanov Odilzhon. Before entering the 2025-2026 season, it is predicted that many domestic players who are no longer in the team's playing plan will also have to say goodbye.

Binh Duong Club has been heavily invested and has abundant operating funds, but lacks cohesion in the overall playing style. That is also the reason why the team often changes "coach seats" in a short period of time.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Becamex IDC, Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, said: "Last year was the most difficult year in the past 3 years. We also want to exploit young talented players, but it is still difficult and takes time. The upcoming goal is to continue to rejuvenate the core force. In the last season, we bought many stars to support the current youth force. Investing in youth football training is not easy. I hope that in the 2025-2026 season, Binh Duong Club will have better progress, contributing and enriching the achievements of Ho Chi Minh City football."

When Binh Duong merges with Ho Chi Minh City, the 2025-2026 season will have at least two exciting derbies. The two teams also open up opportunities for Ho Chi Minh City football to develop, improve its expertise and achieve higher results.