Vietnamese Football Closes the 2026-2026 Season: Record Revenue as V.League Enters a New Reform Cycle

On August 13, 2026, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), together with the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF), released its review report on the 2026-2026 national professional football season at the VFF headquarters in Hanoi. The 96-page report recorded total revenue across the professional league system exceeding VND 1,200 billion for the first time, an increase of 18.4% compared with the 2026-2026 season and the highest figure since V.League 1 moved to a fully professional model. According to the published figures, broadcast rights revenue reached VND 312 billion, accounting for 26% of the revenue structure; sponsorship and commercial revenue reached VND 528 billion, or 44%; the remainder came from ticket sales, player transfers and other sources. Total stadium attendance across the system reached 2,870,000, an average of 6,240 per match, up 9.7% on the previous season. On the pitch, the 2026-2026 V.League 1 title went to Thép Xanh Nam Định with 46 points from 26 rounds, two points ahead of runners-up Công An Hà Nội. The title race was settled only on the final matchday at Thiên Trường Stadium, where Thép Xanh Nam Định beat Hà Nội FC 2-1 thanks to an 88th-minute goal from striker Nguyễn Xuân Son. It was the third championship in the history of the club from Nam Định. At the bottom of the table, Sông Lam Nghệ An and Bình Định were relegated at the end of the season. Thể Công - Viettel and Đông Á Thanh Hóa secured places in the 2026-2027 Asian club competitions thanks to their top-half finishes. The organisers reported an average of 2.84 goals per match, the highest in five seasons. The V.League 2 season also posted notable growth, with revenue up 22.1% and the number of televised matches rising from 84 to 126. Phù Đổng Ninh Bình earned direct promotion, while Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu won the play-off to claim the remaining place. On the individual awards front, the V.League 1 2026-2026 Player of the Season award went to midfielder Nguyễn Hoàng Đức, who scored 11 goals and provided 9 assists in 25 appearances. The Golden Boot went to striker Nguyễn Tiến Linh with 19 goals, while the Best Goalkeeper award went to Nguyễn Filip. At national-team level, 2026 is regarded as an important transition period. Head coach Kim Sang-sik and his staff called up 32 players for a training camp running from August 24 to September 6, 2026 at the Vietnam Youth Football Training Centre. The camp is designed to prepare for two matches in the third round of qualifying for the 2027 Asian championship, against Indonesia at home and Iraq away. The squad list features the return of midfielder Nguyễn Quang Hải after his injury treatment, along with the first call-ups for three players born in 2026 or later who are currently playing in V.League 1. According to VFF statistics, the average age of the squad in this camp is 25.3, down 1.8 years on the same period in 2026. The Vietnam U23 team also completed qualifying for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship unbeaten in four matches, scoring 9 goals and conceding only twice. The U23 head coach said 60% of the current squad are regular starters in V.League 1, the highest share in several years. In the women's game, the Vietnam women's national team retained its place among Asia's top six in the ranking published by the Asian Football Confederation on June 30, 2026. The women's team has qualified for the 2026 AFC Women's Championship finals and is preparing for the 2027 Women's World Cup qualifiers. Striker Huỳnh Như remains the team's all-time leading scorer with 68 goals in 112 caps. The 2026 national women's championship featured eight clubs, two more than in the 2026 season. Than Khoáng sản Việt Nam successfully defended the title, with Thái Nguyên T&T and Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh I finishing in the following places. Total prize money for the season reached VND 6.4 billion, up 42% year on year. Vietnamese futsal also made progress, with the national futsal team reaching the quarter-finals of the 2026 AFC Futsal Championship held in Uzbekistan. It was the fourth consecutive time Vietnam's futsal team has reached the last eight in Asia. On refereeing and technology, VPF said the video assistant referee (VAR) system had been fully deployed in 100% of V.League 1 matches from round one of the 2026-2026 season, one season earlier than originally planned. The rate of decisions overturned after VAR review stood at 0.42 per match, while the average number of red cards fell from 0.21 to 0.16 per match. Infrastructure was another highlight of this year's report. Hàng Đẫy Stadium reopened on June 1, 2026 after renovation, with a capacity of 22,500 seats. In addition, three new stadium projects in Ninh Bình, Bắc Ninh and Cần Thơ are under construction and are expected to be completed before 2028. On youth development, the academy system of professional clubs now contains 2,140 players across age groups from U11 to U19, up 14% on 2026. During the past season, 87 academy-produced players were officially registered in V.League 1 and V.League 2, of whom 31 made at least 10 appearances. The organisers also announced an expansion of the professional referee training programme, with 24 referees trained to Asian Football Confederation standards in 2026, aiming to have at least six Vietnamese referees appointed to continental matches by 2028. The report, however, also pointed candidly to persistent weaknesses. The share of profitable clubs remains low, with only 3 of the 14 V.League 1 clubs posting a positive operating result. Total club liabilities are estimated at around VND 1,850 billion, most of it related to unpaid wages and bonuses carried over from previous seasons. Broadcast rights also remain a topic of debate. The V.League 1 media rights package for 2026-2028 is worth a total of VND 1,050 billion and is split between the clubs and VPF on a 70-30 basis. Some clubs have proposed adjusting the distribution formula to reflect more accurately how much audience each team attracts. As for the calendar, the 2026-2027 V.League 1 season is scheduled to kick off on September 19, 2026 and to finish on May 23, 2027. The format remains unchanged, with 14 teams playing a double round-robin. The organisers said at least four matchdays will be reserved for clubs competing in Asian competitions in order to ease fixture congestion. Meanwhile, the Vietnam national team will play two international friendlies in October 2026, expected to be against Malaysia and South Korea. The matches form part of a long-term preparation plan aimed at the 2030 World Cup qualifiers, a campaign in which Vietnam is targeting a first-ever passage through the third round. Speaking at the report's launch, a VFF representative stressed that the central goal of the 2026-2030 cycle is to raise the share of domestically developed players to at least 75% of national-team squads, while increasing the number of clubs meeting Asian Football Confederation licensing standards to eight by 2028. With the results achieved in the 2026-2026 season, Vietnamese football is entering a period widely seen by experts as a watershed, as finances, infrastructure and youth development are for the first time placed within a single, unified development roadmap running through 2030.