Football federation selects next national coach

Mai Duc Chung has become the No 1 option for head coach of the national football team.

The Vietnam Football Federation's (VFF) National Coaches Council on Feb. 21 officially made its final decision for the position that had been left empty since last December.

VFF leaders are expected to review their selection for approval on February 27.

In case of approval, Chung, in Brunei with the Under-19 team for the Hassanal Bolkiah Cup at present, will sign a two-year contract when he returns to the country. His salary has not been revealed, but rumour has it that it could be around 120-150 million VND (USD5,700-7,100 ) per month.

Chung would reap benefits if Vietnam could achieve good results at coming tournaments, the first one of which will be the Southeast Asian Football Championship – AFF Cup later this year.

After former coach Falko Goetz was fired, Chung became the favourite candidate for the position. The 61-year-old formerly worked as assistant for many foreign coaches in the past.

In 2008, Chung guided the U22 team to win the Merdeka Cup in Malaysia. He was also acting head coach of the U23 team who defeated Lebanon and Oman during the Beijing Olympic qualifiers in 2007. Chung was appointed head coach of the national women's team in 2003-05 when they won two gold medals at the 22nd and 23rd SEA Games.

The council also drew up an additional list of substitute candidates should Chung not sign the contract with the VFF.

dtinews.vn

VN Super League seeks new name

HCM CITY — Viet Nam's top flight football championships will have to amend its new name to reflect the championships' origin, according to the National Administration of Sports and Physical Training.

The league goes into the this season with its new name of Super League Eximbank 2012 as a result of negotiations between the Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF) and clubs.

The Viet Nam Professional Football (VPF) company was also established to manage the competition.

However, the administration said that the name did not reflect the origin of the championships.

"The name of the national football championships must be in Vietnamese and the abbreviation must have the letter V and the name of the sponsor, such as V-League Eximbank 2012," the department said in a document sent to the VFF.

The adminstration also asked the VFF and the VPF to coordinate and run the football championships, including improving the quality of referees and eliminating dirty play.

Fourth round

Second-placed Ha Noi T&T have a good chance to go to the top of the Super League this weekend when they take on Kien Giang on home soil, as the leader SHB Da Nang will have a tough game.

The full points are within Ha Noi-based team's reach considering their home advantage and quality over the visitors, who is one of the contenders for relegation, in the game tomorrow.

Meanwhile, SHB Da Nang, who are leading the table courtesy of a superior goal difference over Ha Noi T&T, will face their first real challenge under the name of defending champions and third-placed Song Lam Nghe An.

This is even more interesting as the game is a mental game between two of the most talented young coaches, who are the first generation of footballers when the country integrated into the regional football.

Another noticeable game is that between two hungry-looking sides, Becamex Binh Duong and Ha Noi FC, who are both on the second half of the table with only three points.

Home team Binh Duong are favourites to win full points and improve their ranking as Ha Noi will extend their poor run.

Dong Thap and Khanh Hoa will fight in the fourth game tomorrow to climb up on the table.

Three games today are Hoang Anh Gia Lai vs Navibank Sai Gon; Ninh Binh vs Thanh Hoa; and Sai Gon FC vs Hai Phong.

vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Prime Minister directs to help settle dispute on TV broadcast rights

HA NOI -- Prime Minister (PM) Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday provided direction to help settle disputes about television broadcast rights to timely reserve spectators' demand via television.

PM Dung asked the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to resolve the conflict so as to live up to the spectators' expectations and then report to the Government.

The Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF) signed a contract with the Audio Visual Global Company (AVG) from 2011-30 and recently released an official document stating that AVG has all broadcasting rights for the national football championship (Super League).

Meanwhile, the Viet Nam Professional Football JSC (VPF) said that the exclusive broadcast rights contract between the VFF and the AVG was illegal and television stations should be allowed to broadcast live the tournament's matches.

The VPF and organising board are required to respect that broadcasting rights now belong to the AVG, which means television stations can only broadcast matches with AVG permission.

During investigations, the Government leader allowed television stations to broadcast all matches under the management of the VPF.

After receiving PM Dung's direction, AVG sent a press release to affirm that it would strictly obey the PM's direction. -- VNS

vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

VFF to limit foreign players in football league

HA NOI – The Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF) will limit the number of foreign players in the national football league from 2013 to help boost opportunities for local football talent, the federation's vice chairman Pham Ngoc Vien said in an interview.

Each team in the Super League (formerly known as the V-League) will be limited to recruiting three foreign players from next year, and only two of them will be able to play for their team at any given time.

Teams in the lower First Division will not be allowed to hire any foreign players from 2013.

"The limit on foreign players in the First Division championship will provide young players more opportunities to compete," Vien said. "The federation also requires teams in both the Super League and First Division to build their football training centres by 2014."

Vien, who helped draw up Viet Nam's professional football system in 2001, added that each Second Division team will have to include three young squads for competition in youth championships from 2013.

The vice chairman said teams that have yet to set up their own youth squads will receive a fine of at least VND200 million ($10,000).

"We want teams to invest more in training young talent rather than hiring foreign players or using training facilities abroad," he said.

There are over 100 foreign players competing for 28 teams in the Super League and First Division this year. -- VNS

vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

VFF-AVG pact on TV rights not valid: VPF

Nguyen Duc Kien, vice chairman of the Vietnam Professional Football JSC (VPF)

The newly established national football company, VPF, says it rejects the validity of 20-year-contract between the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and the An Vien Group (AVG).

Early this year, VFF and AVG signed an agreement worth VND 6 billion (US$285,000) per year that provides the latter with exclusive rights to air live the country’s top-tier Super League matches. Television stations nationwide must pay to be able to re-broadcast the matches live.

VPF was established late last month, taking over from the VFF the task of managing the country’s national football competitions. The VFF had asked the VPF and to honor and execute the contract signed with AVG. The VPF has denied this.

Speaking to Thanh Nien on Saturday, VPF vice chairman Nguyen Duc Kien said, “VPF on Saturday received a document from VFF saying that it had not asked for opinions from the clubs before signing the contract with AVG.

“Therefore, VPF has denied the validity of the contract. We [VPF] ask that AVG and VFF be responsible for clarifying the validity of the contract.”

VPF has meanwhile negotiated with other TV stations like Vietnam Television Station VTV. Kien said, "We follow three rules. Rule 1 is ensuring the ultimate right of the TV viewers. Football fans must be able to see the best matches live. As much as possible, the maximum number of matches of each round must be aired.

"Rule No.2 is that a contract can be no more than three years long; and Rule No.3 is that the value of each contract can’t be under VND10 billion per year.

Kien also said that VPF is now focusing on promotion rather than the commercial issue. He said the company has not signed a contract with VTV but has reached some agreement in accordance with legal regulations.

Asked what VPF would do if the contract between VFF and AVG was taken to court and the judge ruled the federation would have to compensate the latter in the event the company signs deals with other TV stations, Kien said he didn’t know if VFF or AVG wanted to take the problem to court.

He said the VPF has thought about it and doesn’t think it is the worst situation.

According to Kien, VPF wants the situation to be made clear and is not averse to the matter being settled in a court.

By Lan Phuong, Thanh Nien News

Watch Navibank Sai Gon vs Sai Gon FC live Super League 2012

Super League Round 1 - Eximbank 2012
01/01/2011 16h10 GMT +7 days: Navibank Sai Gon vs Sai Gon FC

N. SG: The Anh, Quang Long, Anh Tuan, Vincent, Vietnam strength, is Em, Aniekan, Duy Khanh, Khanh Lam, Fonseca, Quang Hai

SG.FC: Tan Truong, Van Tuan Hai Anh, Family Law, Trong Binh, Moses, Rogerio Nguyen, Phu Trong, Antonio, NSI, Huynh Kesley

Prediction: 1-1

Live:

Watch LS Thanh Hoa vs SL Nghe an live Super League 2012

Super League Round 1 - Eximbank 2012, Vinh Airport
01/01/2011 16h10 GMT +7 days: Song Lam Nghe An vs Thanh Hoa

SLNA: Vietnam, Van Hoan, Huy Hoang, Thierry, Dinh Dong Trong Hoang, Hector, Van Binh, Quang Love; Abass, Bebbe

LS Thanh Hoa: Vinh Loi Huy Cuong, On Hieu Anh Tuan, Xuan Hop; Van Thang, Nguyen Rodger, Da Silva, Quoc Vuong; Sunday, Fikru

Live:

Vietnam football hit by row over TV rights

A cameraman recording live a football match in Ho Chi Minh City.

Controversy has broken out regarding television broadcast rights for the Super League (formerly V-League) matches, the country’s top-tier football tournament, with the newly established Vietnam Professional Football (VPF) JSC at loggerheads with the company that has bought the telecast rights.

Vietnamese football had undergone a major change early this month with the task of organizing national football competitions passed on from the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) to the VFP, which has on its board officials of the federation as well as owners of the nation’s football clubs.

Before the mantle passed on to the new company, the VFF had early this year sold television rights to Super League matches to the Audio Visual Global (AVG) JSC. The two sides signed a 20-year agreement for VND6 billion (US$286,000) per year.

Officers of the VPF, which was established early December, found the agreement unreasonable. They wanted to shorten the time and raise the agreement’s value to VND20 billion a year.

AVG has contended that although VPF has the right to organize national football competitions, it cannot unilaterally terminate the agreement or force it to raise the value from VND6 billion to VND20 billion a year.

AVG president Pham Nhat Vu refused to change the terms and conditions in the agreement during a talk with VFF vice chairman Pham Ngoc Vien and general secretary Tran Quoc Tuan (Tuan has since resigned and will leave office on January 1, 2012) on Wednesday, December 28.

Vu said the agreement AVG signed with VFF was guaranteed by officials of the sports department and authorized agencies, so it must remain unchanged for the term agreed to at the beginning.

He said AVG would not agree to the VND20 billion per year that VPF has informed the press it is demanding.

According to Vien, AVG has all rights to air the matches on television as mentioned in the agreement, so VFF can do nothing about it. However, he said, VPF and AVG should discuss the issue and come to an agreement that is beneficial to both parties.

VPF board members are also unhappy that the AVG plans to choose the matches that will be aired live, instead of airing all of them.

Nhat Vu said 40 local television stations have asked for the right to rebroadcast live the football matches that AVG owns the copyrights to, but the company requires that they also show AVG’s logo and advertisements.

Meanwhile, the major television stations in the country, VTV, VTC (Vietnam Cable TV) and Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV) have not reached agreement with AVG because they are not pleased with the company’s choice of matches to be aired live.

They say this would not only narrow down the areas to be televised but also badly affect the interests of the Super League sponsor, Eximbank. The bank, which invests VND30 billion in the tournament, is entitled to ask that the league matches be broadcast on as many television stations as possible to promote its image.

A source said Wednesday that the VPF Board of Directors still planned to negotiate with broadcasting television stations like VTV, VTC and HTV the possibility of showing matches and images of the Super League as much as possible on their sports channels. The VPF has said it would not accept any company holding exclusive television telecast rights, and would sell them to different TV stations.

According to a member of the VPF’s Board of Directors, if VTV pays for the right to televise live four or five matches of the Super League a week to broadcast on its different channels including VCTV channels and satellite channel K+, VPF can earn up to VND12-15 billion.

The VPF has also said it would support VTV in exploring income earning options through advertising. It would also offer similar deals to VTC and HTV.

It is not clear however, how the VPF can circumvent the VFF-AVG agreement and negotiate these deals.

By Quang Tuyen - Lan Phuong, Thanh Nien News (The story can be found in the December 30th issue of our print edition, Thanh Nien Weekly)