V.League 1

The V-League 1, as it is known today, dates back to 1980 when the first semi-professional league was launched (then known as the All Vietnam Football Championship). Seventeen clubs participated in the competition which was split into three groups and conducted more like a cup competition, with the winner from each group qualifying for the Championship Stage. Công An Hà Nội, Tổng Cục Đường Sắt and Hải Quan were the three teams to qualify, with Tổng Cục Đường Sắt ultimately taking the title. That format, although the teams were split into two groups, continued until 1995 when the league reverted to a more traditional league format.

League football in Vietnam would turn professional in the 2000–2001 season, which saw the league change its name to its current moniker, V-League 1. In that inaugural V-League 1 season there were only ten clubs, with tighter restrictions meaning fewer teams. Over the next decade the league grew from 10 teams to the current fourteen, with the team that finishes on top of the table qualifying for the AFC Champions League. Clubs were allowed to hire foreign players from this season on.

Following a season marred by accusations of refereeing corruption and a cover-up by the V.League governing body Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), six clubs (Đồng Tâm Long An, Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, Hanoi ACB, Vissai Ninh Bình, Khatoco Khánh Hòa and Lam Sơn Thanh Hóa[1]) threatened to leave the league and form an entirely new league for the 2012 season. The most outspoken club in the move was Hanoi ACB, who were going through relegation from the V.League, with its chairman Nguyen Duc Kien announcing that ACB would spearhead the move. Due to the controversy, league sponsor EximBank expressed its intention to drop its title sponsorship of the league. League officials scrambled to resolve the issues, going as far as hiring foreign referees for the 2012 season.[2][3] After a meeting on 29 September, representatives of the VFF and the 14 V.League 1 teams and 14 V.League 2 teams announced the formation of a new corporation, the VPF, Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company to manage the V-League. The VFF would hold a 36% stake in the new corporation, and the rest would be held by clubs.[1]

From the 2012 season, the organising power was transferred from the VFF to the VPF (Vietnamese Professional Football), and the V.League 1 was initially changed to the Super League, although this name was short-lived and the league was renamed back to V.League 1 later in the season. The first division was renamed the V.League 2. At the same time, many clubs found themselves in financial and sponsor issues, and many clubs withdrew, merge, bought another or failed to meet requirements for leagues. As a result, the number of clubs in each league changed dramatically.

After Xuân Thành Sài Gòn was docked points for what the VFF deemed the club unsportsmanlike conduct when the club fielded a noncompetitive squad for their Matchday 20 meeting with Sông Lam Nghệ An, club officials announced that the club would withdraw from the league. On 22 August 2013, the VFF approved Xuân Thành Sài Gòn's withdrawal request. Matches where the club was involved were vacated. The VFF is still debating if the last place club will still be relegated to V.League 2, though the league charter states that the club in 12th place would be the only club relegated in the 2013 campaign.[10]

Relegation was cancelled for the 2013 campaign after Xuân Thành Sài Gòn withdrew from the V.League 1 before the conclusion of the season.[11] QNK Quảng Nam, Than Quảng Ninh and Hùng Vương An Giang, as winners, first runners-up and second runners-up respectively, were promoted from the 2013 V.League 2 season. Kienlongbank Kiên Giang failed to apply for the 2014 campaign and subsequently folded during the offseason.[12]

Vissai Ninh Bình wrote to the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and to the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company to be allowed to stop their participation in the league and also the AFC Cup due to 13 players being involved in match fixing. They had played eight league matches and were third from bottom at the time.[13] Following their withdrawal from the league, all their results were declared null and void.[14]

Due to the match fixing scandal and withdrawal of Vissai Ninh Bình, it was decided that the bottom-placed team at the end of the season will take part in a play-off match against the third-placed team in the First Division for the right to play in the V-League next season.[15]

Becamex Binh Duong

Nam Dinh

Hanoi

Haiphong

Hoang Anh Gia Lai

Hong Linh Ha Tinh

Topenland Binh Dinh

SHB Da Nang

Song Lam Nghe An

Than Quang Ninh

Dong A Thanh Hoa

Ho Chi Minh City

Hanoi teams
Hanoi
Viettel

Ho Chi Minh City teams
Ho Chi Minh City
Saigon

Locations of the 2021 V.League 1 teams

Fourteen clubs compete in the V.League 1’s, with one coming from the V.League 2’s previous season:

Primary venues used in the 2020 V.League 1:

Becamex Bình Dương	Sài Gòn	Hồng Lĩnh Hà Tĩnh	TP Hồ Chí Minh	Hà Nội
Gò Đậu Stadium	Thống Nhất Stadium	Hà Tĩnh Stadium	Thống Nhất Stadium	Hàng Đẫy Stadium
Capacity: 18,250	Capacity: 25,000	Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 25,000	Capacity: 25,000
Hải Phòng	Hoàng Anh Gia Lai	Quảng Nam	SHB Đà Nẵng	Sông Lam Nghệ An
Lạch Tray Stadium	Pleiku Stadium	Tam Kỳ Stadium	Hòa Xuân Stadium	Vinh Stadium
Capacity: 28,000	Capacity: 12,000	Capacity: 15,624	Capacity: 20,500	Capacity: 18,000
Than Quảng Ninh	Thanh Hóa	Viettel	Nam Định
Cẩm Phả Stadium	Thanh Hóa Stadium	Hàng Đẫy Stadium	Thiên Trường Stadium
Capacity: 15,000	Capacity: 14,000	Capacity: 25,000	capacity :25,000

Clubs are only allowed to register three foreign players per season.[16] In prior seasons, clubs were allowed to register two foreign players.

Starting from 2015 season, the number of foreign players allowed for clubs is reduced to 2 players plus 1 naturalised player.

From 2019 season, the rules on foreign players changed again, the number of foreign players allowed by clubs are 3 players and 1 naturalised player.[17]

Season[7]	Name	Club	Goals
1980	Lê Văn Đặng	Công an Hà Nội	10
1981–1982	Võ Thành Sơn	Sở Công Nghiệp	15
1982–1983	Nguyễn Cao Cường	Thể Công	22
1984	Nguyễn Văn Dũng	Nam Định	15
1985	Nguyễn Văn Dũng	Nam Định	15
1986	Nguyễn Văn Dũng Nguyễn Minh Huy	Nam Định Hải Quan	12
1987–1988	Lưu Tấn Liêm	Hải Quan	15
1989	Hà Vương Ngầu Nại	Cảng Sài Gòn	10
1990	Nguyễn Hồng Sơn	Thể Công	10
1991	Hà Vương Ngầu Nại	Cảng Sài Gòn	10
1992	Trần Minh Toàn	Quảng Nam-Đà Nẵng	6
1993–1994	Nguyễn Công Long Bùi Sĩ Thành	Bình Định Long An	12
1995	Trần Minh Chiến	Công an Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh	14
1996	Lê Huỳnh Đức	Công an Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh	25
1997	Lê Huỳnh Đức	Công an Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh	16
1998	Nguyễn Văn Dũng	Nam Định	17
1999 Unofficial	Vũ Minh Hiếu	Công an Hà Nội	8
1999–2000	Văn Sỹ Thủy	Sông Lam Nghệ An	14
2000–2001	Đặng Đạo	Khánh Hòa	11
2001–2002	Hồ Văn Lợi	Cảng Sài Gòn	9
2003	Emeka Achilefu	Nam Định	11
2004	Amaobi Uzowuru	Nam Định	15
2005	Huỳnh Kesley Alves	Becamex Bình Dương	21
2006	Elenildo de Jesus	Thép Miền Nam Cảng Sài Gòn	18
2007	Jose Emidio de Almeida	SHB Đà Nẵng	16
2008	Jose Emidio de Almeida	SHB Đà Nẵng	23
2009	Đỗ Merlo Lazaro de Souza	SHB Đà Nẵng Quân khu 4	15
2010	Đỗ Merlo	SHB Đà Nẵng	19
2011	Đỗ Merlo	SHB Đà Nẵng	22
2012	Timothy Anjembe	Hà Nội ACB	17
2013	Gonzalo Marronkle Hoàng Vũ Samson	Hà Nội	14
2014	Hoàng Vũ Samson	Hà Nội	23
2015	Patiyo Tambwe	QNK Quảng Nam	18
2016	Đỗ Merlo	SHB Đà Nẵng	24
2017	Nguyễn Anh Đức	Becamex Bình Dương	17
2018	Oseni Ganiyu	Hà Nội	17
2019	Pape Omar Faye Bruno Cantanhede	Hà Nội Viettel	15
2020	Rimario Gordon Pedro Paulo	Hà Nội Sài Gòn	12

Starting from the 2000 season when foreign players can played in the league, the top goalscorer are always foreign players (expect Nguyễn Anh Đức from Becamex Bình Dương in 2017 season)

The following is a historical list of champions and runners-up of the V.League 1 by season. Superscripts in brackets (such as ⁽²⁾) indicate a repeat win.

Boldface indicates clubs playing in 2020 season

Top ten players with most appearances

Player		Period	Club(s)	Games
1	Nguyễn Hồng Sơn	1988–2005	Thể Công 401, Công Nhân Bia Đỏ 29	430
2	Nguyễn Thế Anh	1966–1984	Thể Công 412	412
3	Đặng Phương Nam	1992–2007	Thể Công 388	388
4	Phan Văn Tài Em	2002–2011	Long An 305, Navibank Sài Gòn 44, Xuân Thành Sài Gòn 27	376
5	Nguyễn Anh Đức	2006–2019	Đông Á Bank 9, Becamex Bình Dương 355	364
6	Phạm Thành Lương	2005-	Hà Nội ACB 144, Hà Nội 161	305
7	Dương Hồng Sơn	1998–2015	Sông Lam Nghệ An 206, Hà Nội 95	301
8	Nguyễn Cao Cường	1970–1989	Thể Công 301	301
9	Nguyễn Minh Phương	1998–2015	Cảng Sài Gòn 95, Long An 171, SHB Đà Nẵng 38,	294
10	Thạch Bảo Khanh	1998-2014	Thể Công 233, Lam Sơn Thanh Hoá 24, Hà Nội 32	289
11	Lê Tấn Tài	2003-	Sanna Khánh Hòa BVN 164, Hải Phòng 11, Becamex Bình Dương 93, Hồng Lĩnh Hà Tĩnh 6, Hà Nội 9	283

Boldface indicates a player still active in the V.League 1.

-

Player		Period	Clubs (mostly known as)	Goals
1	Hoàng Vũ Samson	2007–	Đồng Tháp, Hà Nội, Quảng Nam, Thanh Hóa	227
2	Đỗ Merlo	2009–	SHB Đà Nẵng, Nam Định	136
3	Nguyễn Anh Đức	2005–2019	Đông Á Bank, Becamex Bình Dương	123
4	Lê Công Vinh	2004–2016	Sông Lam Nghệ An, Hà Nội T&T, Hà Nội 1956, Becamex Bình Dương	118
5	Nguyễn Văn Quyết	2011–	Hà Nội	114
6	Huỳnh Kesley Alves	2003–2019	Becamex Bình Dương, Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, Sài Gòn Xuân Thành, Sanna Khánh Hòa BVN, Hồ Chí Minh City	113
7	Antonio Carlos	2003–2015	Long An	94
8	Gonzalo Marronkle	2009–2017	Hà Nội	81
9	Lê Huỳnh Đức	1995–2007	Hồ Chí Minh City Police, SHB Đà Nẵng	79
10	Timothy Anjembe	2009–2015	Hòa Phát Hà Nội, Hà Nội ACB, Hoàng Anh Gia Lai	79
11	Jose Emidio de Almeida	2006–2014	SHB Đà Nẵng	71

Boldface indicates a player still active in the V.League 1.