Nguyễn Hữu Thắng, the most recent permanent domestic head coach of the Việt Nam national football team. Photo VFF

Anh Đức

Last week, a special day named Teachers' Day in Việt Nam was observed.

The Vietnamese word 'Thầy', which means 'teacher' in English, relates to every single person who offers knowledge and training to another person. It is also used honorifically for respected coaches in Vietnamese football. Henrique Calisto, who brought Việt Nam their first AFF Cup, was called 'Thầy Tô', while the great Park Hang-seo was always named 'Thầy Park' by fans and the media. Even Philippe Troussier was named 'Thầy Trou' during his ill-fated time as national team coach.

But rarely do you see the honorific used for domestic coaches in the national team setup. Hoàng Anh Tuấn, Mai Đức Chung, Hoàng Văn Phúc, Phan Thanh Hùng, and Nguyễn Hữu Thắng are always addressed with the word 'ông', which means 'mister'.

This does not necessarily mean that the fans and the players do not respect these coaches, nor does it mean that these coaches did not teach anything, but it does reveal a startling contrast between domestic coaches and foreign coaches in Việt Nam.

After the late Alfred Riedl's reign ended in 2005, the VFF has appointed six domestic coaches in the past 20 years, but none lasted more than a year at the helm, with current women's national team manager Mai Đức Chung serving as caretaker twice in 2011 and 2017.

It is notable that these coaches are all talented and acclaimed domestically. Phan Thanh Hùng won two V.League 1 titles with Hà Nội FC. Hoàng Văn Phúc won the 2010 AFF Under-16 championship and later rewrote a Leicester-esque story with minnows Quảng Nam FC, when they won the 2017 V.League. Nguyễn Hữu Thắng completed a domestic double in 2011 with Sông Lam Nghệ An. But every single one fell while sitting the hot seat of the Việt Nam national team manager.

Hùng's reign ended in a disappointing group stage exit in the 2012 AFF Cup, Phúc's short reign got people yawning, while Hữu Thắng got a bittersweet ending as Việt Nam was heartbreakingly eliminated in the 2016 AFF semifinals. Thắng held on for one more year until his resignation after the 2017 SEA Games failure.

After six years of regional success at the helm of Park Hang-seo, a disastrous reign under Philippe Troussier again stirred the question about whether or not a domestic coach should take the helm as Việt Nam national team manager.

The question has great rationale behind it, since Vietnamese coaches are now more inclined to take up coaching licences abroad, to adhere to rulings by the AFC. Names such as Hoàng Anh Tuấn, Chu Đình Nghiêm and Nguyễn Đức Thắng are brought up as potential candidates, but eventually the spot went to Korean Kim Sang-sik in May 2024.

The Việt Nam national team manager post is in many ways similar to the post of England national team manager. The job is always under intense pressure and scrutiny and, if done right, one is revered for decades, as is the case for Gareth Southgate and Park Hang-seo. However, if failure arrives, the post is career suicide, with Steve McClaren and Hoàng Văn Phúc as the prime examples.

And it seemes that in the near future and with this current generation of domestic coaches, none are too eager to take that risk. VNS