Most football experts have publicly expressed their doubts regarding the youth training plan of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF).

Both the training method and the use of investments granted by the state and FIFA are questionable, said Nguyen Hong Thanh, general director of Song Lam Nghe An FC, a unit that has gained success in youth training for a decade.

The youth training plan of the VFF

The plan started in 2007 when the VFF was granted a fund of almost VND140 billion (US$6.7 million), 85 percent of which came from the State budget, the remainder of which was aid from FIFA.

The investment was used to build a training center that covers an area of 7.2 hectares in Hanoi and boasts four stadiums, a gym, and two dormitories.

After beginning operation following an official ceremony, the center was left empty until last month when the VFF opened its first long-term youth training course. However, it didn’t start by recruiting young prospects aged 10-12 as is the universal practice of all training centers, but rather began by picking youths already training at clubs nationwide.

To encourage clubs to send their U-15 players to the center, the VFF labeled its training plan as “preparing national teams for Asian Games in 2019.”

Most football experts have expressed their doubts regarding this plan. Some even announced that they will not send their youths to the VFF’s training center.

Nguyen Xuan Nam, Ph.D., director of the fund for football development in Vietnam, said “the training method of the VFF is not convincing.”

“We will not send players who train at our club to the VFF center,” he concluded.

Huynh Mau, managing director of Hoang Anh Gia Lai FC, said, “The VFF sent us a document asking us to send our players born in 1998 to the VFF training center to prepare for the 2019 Asian Games. But our club will not do so because the VFF training plan is worse than ours.”

An official with almost ten years of experience training youth in football in Vietnam said under condition of anonymity, “The VFF plans to spend eight billion dong [US$384,600] a year for 60 players at its training center.

This means VND133 million a player per year – which is just a middle investment and no better than investment from clubs, which pay on average at least VND200 million per player every year.”

He proposed that the VFF uses their money to aid clubs in financial trouble rather than begin a new training program.

Untrustworthy of the VFF, people have recently suggested inspecting the football governing body’s use of the VND140 billion (US$6.7 million) mainly contributed by the State budget and FIFA.

Recently, VFF chairman Nguyen Trong Hy defended the VFF, claiming that the youth football training center exists merely in name, intended only as a meeting place for national teams before a tournament.

Hy admitted that, “We decided to name it the youth football training center so that we could get investments from the State and FIFA.”