Vietnamese Youth Football and the Unspoken Sorrow

"This Ho Chi Minh City U15 cohort is truly outstanding. These players have been practicing together from the ages of 9-10 and have participated in a wide array of competitions at both the municipal and regional levels, across various youth tiers. The experience of making it to the quarter-finals of the 2025 National U13 Championship, in particular, has granted them precious lessons," stated Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nam, Business Director of the Thang Long Youth Training Center, gesturing towards the group of over 20 young athletes training intensively far across the Thang Long Sport field.

Nearly half of the Ho Chi Minh City U15 team (from the Thong Nhat Sports Center) were developed at Thang Long Sport, with the remainder coming from Phu Nhuan, Thu Duc, and other prominent youth training academies in Ho Chi Minh City.

"I've heard that CA Ho Chi Minh City Club wants to recruit this generation for advanced training. If that's true, it would be a positive development for the players and their families. Although they are labeled as the HCMC U15 team, for the past five months since selection and assembly, they haven't had a stable training ground, having to borrow facilities all over the place. This has been a critical weakness of HCMC's youth football for many years, leading to the loss of much talent and even the complete dissolution of entire player generations," continued the words of the dedicated coach with over 20 years in youth football, Nguyen Thanh Nam.

The foundation or cornerstone of professional football lies in school football and community football; it lies in youth training. This is an immutable rule; there are no other alternatives. When it comes to community football centers or specialized talent classes, few localities can compare to Ho Chi Minh City. But (there must be a but)...

After many years, spanning decades, youth training in Ho Chi Minh City has scarcely produced any noteworthy players. One must search exhaustively to find just a few players who came through the city's youth system and now have the capability to play in the National First Division, let alone become national team players. And so, since the name TMN.CSG concluded its mission 20 years ago, football in Ho Chi Minh City has had to import players from A to Z.