Student Football Mission: Lessons from Japan and Korea

This is a student-level football tournament whose significance goes beyond a mere student football field.

Student football and school sports platform

In Asia, Japan and Korea are two football powers that have built a very solid foundation for school and student football.

Sứ mệnh bóng đá sinh viên - Ảnh 1. — The first Open Student Football Tournament 2025 with the participation of 8 teams from Universities and Colleges in the Southern region

Sports in general and school football in particular are developed by the two Northeast Asian countries not to pursue achievements, but to develop physical fitness and create a social connection effect. When the football community is large enough and the selection range is wide enough, scouts will find football talent more easily.

School sports in Japan and Korea not only help students pursue their passion for their favorite sport, but also contribute to increasing physical activity, training teamwork, connecting groups, and experiencing personal challenges.

In Japan, every year, school football tournaments (such as the All-Japan High School Tournament), university student tournaments, regional student football tournaments... are held regularly. Here, students participate in playing football quite early, first at the festival level for U6, U8, U10, U13, to high school level, then the tournament of the university system... Therefore, students all over the Land of the Rising Sun can rub shoulders and experience many football playgrounds freely.

In Korea, student football has developed since the 1990s, with the U-league system consisting of dozens of teams from many schools across the country. In the early 2000s, every time our national team met the Korean student team, it was very difficult and many times we suffered defeats in the invitational tournaments hosted by Vietnam.

Japan and Korea are places where students are trained to play soccer while maintaining their studies at the same time, and this method has been established according to a very methodical process and plan.

Even football federations of school systems, high schools, universities... are established to run annual football activities.

Thanks to the strong development of student football environment, many football talents have emerged from here and soon shined in the professional environment.

Student Football: Launchpad for many professional stars

Names like Mitoma Kaoru (Japanese player for Brighton/Premier League), Kazuki Nagasawa (used to play in Cologne/Bundesliga)… are all former university student players.

They even successfully defended their Master's theses at Tsukuba University or Waseda University on the subject of football. In Korea, Kim Min Jae (playing for Bayern Munich), or other famous names such as Cha Bum Kun (Korean football icon), Hong Myong Bo... also played football in many high schools.

Most professional clubs have football academies to select and train successor players. Thanks to the connection and cooperation with schools, the number of players recruited is very large. The sustainability of the football academy model is also demonstrated through the method of organization and operation.

For example, Sanfrecce Hiroshima Club (currently playing in J.league 1) organizes competition and training in a 5-level pyramid: the 1st floor is for school/student level; the 2nd floor is for school and junior level; the 3rd floor is junior and youth level; the 4th floor is for youth players; and at the top is professional level (pro).

If Vietnam wants strong football, everything must start from a broad base like Japan and Korea for a solid foundation.

Student football and the West are rich in potential

In the 2000s, student football matches in Ho Chi Minh City always attracted a lot of attention from young people. Later, some football bosses such as Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc and Mr. Vo Quoc Thang made a splash with the Ho Chi Minh City expanded student football tournament, SV-league. Recently, Thanh Nien Newspaper also organized the annual Vietnam Youth-Student Football Tournament (3 seasons have passed).

Sứ mệnh bóng đá sinh viên - Ảnh 2. — Exciting 1st Open Student Football Tournament 2025 Southern Region

And this time, Dong Thap University really made a big splash when organizing a student-level football tournament with 8 teams from the southern provinces and cities participating. The tournament attracted the attention of experts, public opinion, media, and especially sponsors. This is easy to explain, because the Mekong Delta is a place with great potential for football development. The room for developing this sport is quite large and the human resources and football talents are also not few.

Don't forget that this place once produced famous football figures such as the late famous player Pham Huynh Tam Lang (Go Cong/former Tien Giang ), Huynh Quoc Cuong, Phan Thanh Binh (Dong Thap), Nguyen Vu Phong (Vinh Long), Phan Van Tai Em, Nguyen Viet Thang (former Long An, now Tay Ninh)...

Now, wherever you go, whomever you ask, everyone can only "reminisce" about the old imprints, with the image of Dong Thap winning the national championship twice (1989, 1996); Long An was also once glorious with 2 times crowned V.league (2005, 2006).

In the past, when there was still the A1 tournament or the national strong teams tournament, the Tien Giang team (old) was also an impressive name. However, now on the V-League 1 map, Western football seems to have disappeared. In the current First Division, all the attention of football lovers is almost only for Dong Thap Club, where former national player Phan Thanh Binh is the head coach.

That is why, although it is only a student tournament, the playground organized by Dong Thap University has excited public opinion. Associate Professor Dr. Ho Van Thong, Principal of Dong Thap University, Head of the tournament's Organizing Committee, affirmed that the school will strive to host and maintain this tournament every year. However, if any other unit wants to host, Dong Thap University is ready to hand over the organization in rotation to develop the movement.

According to insiders, the Dong Thap University Open Student Football Tournament this time goes beyond the limits of a purely student playground. Because the tournament itself carries the mission of activating the development of the student football ecosystem, youth football in the Southern region, where the potential and space are huge.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/su-menh-bong-da-sinh-vien-bai-hoc-tu-nhat-han-196250720144725474.htm