Football

VFF President Trần Quốc Tuấn (left) and Peer Naubert, managing director of Bundesliga International and chief marketing officer of the DFL, at the MoU signing ceremony in Hà Nội on February 26. --  Photos courtesy of VFF

HÀ NỘI -- Vietnamese football players will have the chance to improve their playing skill levels after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between the Việt Nam Football Federation (VFF) and the German Bundesliga on February 26 in Hà Nội.

"In recent years, with a sustainable development strategy, VFF has always focused on expanding international cooperation and absorbing the best practices of developed football nations. The Bundesliga, with a rich history, top-notch professional quality, and systematic youth player development programmes, is an ideal partner for Vietnamese football to learn from and grow," said VFF President Trần Quốc Tuấn.

"This will continue to enhance the development opportunities for Vietnamese football and mark an important milestone in the cooperative relationship between Việt Nam and Germany – one of the leading football nations in the world."

VFF and Bundesliga have been working together for many years and they have held many exchanges and joint football projects, but this elevates that cooperation to a more formal level.

One of the key milestones is the Bundesliga Dream project which brings the Vietnamese U17 players to train, interact, and improve their professional skills through high-quality friendly matches with youth teams from famous Bundesliga clubs such as Borussia Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt, FC Koln and Borussia Mönchengladbach.

The national women's team practised in Germany in June 2023 in preparation for the historic participation in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. This included friendly matches with the German national women’s squad, Eintracht Frankfurt and RB Leipzig.

And Borussia Dortmund made a visit to Việt Nam and played a friendly match with the national men’s team during their 2022 Asia tour.

To strengthening their relationship, the two sides decided to sign a MoU to push the effectiveness and development of their plans.

Under their agreement, their cooperation which will last until 2028 and both Vietnamese male and female senior and younger players will get training and be able to compete with different clubs of the giant European league.

Other key areas are developing youth football, enhancing professional expertise and sports medicine, coordinating to organise professional seminars and exchanging personnel between the two organisations to improve the professional quality of Vietnamese football.

"VFF believes that, with strong cooperation and commitment from both sides, the new partnership until 2028 will bring practical benefits to Vietnamese football and further strengthen the cooperative relationship between Việt Nam and Germany in the field of sports. In particular, this event is one of the meaningful activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries," Tuấn said.

VFF General Secretary Nguyễn Văn Phú added that from now until 2028 and beyond 2030, Vietnamese football targeted important goals.

VFF's top priority was youth football training. With the Bundesliga’s support, VFF expected the national youth teams to have effective training trips, accumulate experience and improve their qualifications before joining the national team to participate in major tournaments.

Vietnamese women football players (in red) in a training course at RB Leipzig last September.

Speaking at the event, Peer Naubert, managing director of Bundesliga International and chief marketing officer of the DFL, said the expansion of cooperation between the Bundesliga and VFF was built on the excellent activities that were carried out by the two organisations over the past years. The most important goal was to strengthen the position of football in Việt Nam.

He said the two sides wanted to continue to develop football at all levels and more importantly, their partnership was not only for men's football, but also includes women's football.

He really wanted to continue promoting this cooperation and said that he was very excited about expanding the cooperation between the Bundesliga and the VFF.

Considering Việt Nam a potential market, the manager said Bundesliga would create a development path for young Vietnamese footballing talent, with the hope that in the future some of them can play in the Bundesliga.

He also revealed that Dortmund's youth team would come to Hà Nội for training, while other clubs would tour to the country for different activities in the near future.

Bundesliga clubs have won eight UEFA Champions League titles and seven UEFA Europa League trophies to prove their strength.

The league also has the highest average audience of any football league, with more than 42,000 viewers per match, reflecting fan popularity. Combining tradition and innovation, the tournament is always one of the most respected and loved tournaments. VNS