The 2021 V.League 1 (known as the LS V.League 1 for sponsorship reasons) was the 65th professional season of the top-flight football league in Vietnam.[1][2]

LS V.League 1 - 2021
Season2021
Dates15 January 2021 – 2 May 2021
(Remaining matches cancelled)
ChampionsNot awarded
RelegatedNone
Matches played84
Goals scored194 (2.31 per match)
Top goalscorerNguyen Van Toan
Oussou Konan
Rodrigo Dias
(7 goals)
Biggest home winHanoi FC 4–0 Than Quang Ninh
(11 April 2021)
Biggest away winHo Chi Minh City FC 0–3 Hanoi FC
(23 March 2021)
Viettel 0–3 Hoang Anh Gia Lai
(24 March 2021)
Saigon FC 0-3 Nam Dinh FC
(28 March 2021)
Highest scoringHong Linh Ha Tinh 3–5 Dong A Thanh Hoa
(3 April 2021)
Longest winning run7 matches
(Hoang Anh Gia Lai)
Longest unbeaten run11 matches
(Hoang Anh Gia Lai)
Longest winless run6 matches
(Haiphong FC)
Longest losing run5 matches
(Saigon FC)
Highest attendance20,000
Topenland Binh Dinh 0–1 Viettel
(11 April 2021)
Lowest attendance1,500
Viettel 3–0 Saigon FC
(3 April 2021)
Total attendance465,600
(excluding matches played behind closed doors)
Average attendance6,208
2020
2022
All statistics correct as of complete.

The season was paused for a third time on 6 May 2021 due to an outbreak of the delta variant of the coronavirus in the country.[3]

Despite attempts to re-start the season by late November,[4] after a meeting with all teams on August 21, the season was officially cancelled, with no champion determined, and no relegation teams; the slots for the 2022 AFC Champions League and 2022 AFC Cup to be determined at a later stage. Due to cancellation of the league, LS Group was lost sponsors due to issues, and awarded from Sâm Ngọc Linh Kon Tum to sponsors on next season.

Competition format edit

The league was scheduled to operate in two stages, with the top six teams and bottom 8 teams split into two play-off sections after a single-round robin first stage. The season was cancelled before the completion of the first stage.

Teams edit

A total of 14 teams contested the league, including 13 sides from the 2020 season and Topenland Binh Dinh promoted from the 2020 V.League 2 season.[5]

Stadiums and locations edit

Team Location Stadium Capacity Previous
season rank
Topenland Binh Dinh Binh Dinh Quy Nhon 15,000   VL2 (1st)
Becamex Binh Duong Binh Duong Go Dau 13,035 VL1 (6th)
SHB Danang Danang Hoa Xuan 20,000 VL1 (9th)
Hoang Anh Gia Lai Gia Lai Pleiku 12,000 VL1 (7th)
Haiphong FC Haiphong Lach Tray 25,000 VL1 (12th)
Hanoi FC Hanoi Hang Day 22,500 VL1 (2nd)
Viettel VL1 (1st)
Hong Linh Ha Tinh Ha Tinh Ha Tinh 20,000 VL1 (8th)
Ho Chi Minh City FC Ho Chi Minh City Thong Nhat 16,000 VL1 (5th)
Saigon FC VL1 (3rd)
Nam Dinh FC Nam Dinh Thien Truong 30,000 VL1 (13th)
Song Lam Nghe An Nghe An Vinh 18,000 VL1 (10th)
Than Quang Ninh Quang Ninh Cam Pha 20,000 VL1 (4th)
Dong A Thanh Hoa Thanh Hoa Thanh Hoa 12,000 VL1 (11th)

Personnel and kits edit

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer
TopenLand Binh Dinh   Nguyen Duc Thang   Bùi Văn Hiếu   Kamito
Becamex Binh Duong   Nguyen Thanh Son (caretaker)   Pape Omar Faye   Kamito
SHB Danang   Phan Thanh Hùng   Đặng Anh Tuấn   Kamito
Hoang Anh Gia Lai   Kiatisuk Senamuang   Lương Xuân Trường   Mizuno
Haiphong FC   Pham Anh Tuan   Andre Fagan   Jogarbola
Hanoi FC   Park Choong-kyun   Nguyễn Văn Quyết   Jogarbola
Viettel   Truong Viet Hoang   Bùi Tiến Dũng   FBT
Hong Linh Ha Tinh   Nguyen Thanh Cong   Trần Phi Sơn   Kelme
Ho Chi Minh City FC   Alexandré Pölking   Sầm Ngọc Đức   Kelme
Saigon FC   Phung Thanh Phuong   Daisuke Matsui Made by club
Nam Dinh FC   Nguyen Van Sy   Lâm Anh Quang   Kelme
Song Lam Nghe An   Nguyễn Huy Hoàng (caretaker)   Hoàng Văn Khánh   Mitre
Than Quang Ninh   Hoang Tho   Phạm Nguyên Sa   Joma
Dong A Thanh Hoa   Ljupko Petrović   Hoàng Đình Tùng   Jogarbola

Managerial changes edit

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Hoang Anh Gia Lai   Duong Minh Ninh
  Nguyen Van Dan
Mutual consent November 2020 Pre-season   Kiatisuk Senamuang[6] November 2020
Ho Chi Minh City FC   Jung Hae-seong Resigned 12 November 2020   Alexandré Pölking 2 December 2020
Dong A Thanh Hoa   Mai Xuân Hợp Mutual consent 26 November 2020   Ljupko Petrović 26 November 2020
Nam Dinh FC   Pham Hong Phu Mutual consent 14 December 2020   Nguyen Van Sy 14 December 2020
Than Quang Ninh   Phan Thanh Hùng Resigned 16 December 2020   Hoang Tho 16 December 2020
Becamex Binh Duong   Nguyen Thanh Son Mutual consent 19 December 2020   Phan Thanh Hùng 23 December 2020
Saigon FC   Vu Tien Thanh[7] Mutual consent 24 February 2021 4th   Masahiro Shimoda[7] 25 February 2021
Saigon FC   Masahiro Shimoda[8] Sacked 30 March 2021 11th   Phung Thanh Phuong[8] 30 March 2021
Hanoi FC   Chu Dinh Nghiem[9] Resigned 3 April 2021 7th   Hoang Van Phuc (caretaker)[10] 3 April 2021
Hong Linh Ha Tinh   Pham Minh Duc Resigned 12 April 2021 14th   Nguyen Thanh Cong 14 April 2021
Becamex Binh Duong   Phan Thanh Hung Resigned 14 April 2021 6th   Nguyen Thanh Son (caretaker) 14 April 2021
Hanoi FC   Hoang Van Phuc (caretaker) End of caretaker spell 20 April 2021 8th   Park Choong-kyun[11] 20 April 2021
Song Lam Nghe An   Ngo Quang Truong[12] Resigned 30 April 2021 14th   Nguyen Huy Hoang (caretaker) 30 April 2021
SHB Danang   Le Huynh Duc[13] Resigned 3 May 2021 9th   Phan Thanh Hung[14] 3 May 2021

Foreign players edit

Players name in bold indicates the player was registered after the start of the season.

Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4
(AFC Player)
Player 5
(Naturalized Vietnamese player)
Former Player
Topenland Binh Dinh   Hendrio   Rimario Gordon   Ahn Byung-keon    Tony Le1
Becamex Binh Duong   Ali Rabo   Pape Omar Faye   Victor Mansaray
SHB Danang   Janclesio   Rafaelson   Hedipo
  Hedipo
  Papa Ibou Kébé
  Claudecir
Hoang Anh Gia Lai   Washington Brandão   Kim Dong-su   Damir Memović    Suleiman Abdullahi
   Steven Dang1
Haiphong FC   Andre Fagan   Jermie Lynch   Joseph Mpande    Adriano Schmidt1
   Andrey Nguyen 1
   Martin Lo1
  Diego Silva
Hanoi FC   Bruno Cantanhede   Geovane Magno   Moses Oloya
Viettel   Bruno Matos   Caíque   Pedro Paulo   Jahongir Abdumuminov   Luizão
Hong Linh Ha Tinh   Chevaughn Walsh   Ismahil Akinade   Kelly Kester   Claudecir
Ho Chi Minh City FC   Brendon Lucas   Patrick Leonardo   João Paulo    Lee Nguyen1   Papé Diakité
  Dário Junior
  Junior Barros
Saigon FC   Thiago Melo   Papa Ibou Kébé   Papé Diakité   Daisuke Matsui    Gastón Merlo   Hiroyuki Takasaki
  Woo Sang-ho
Nam Dinh FC   Rodrigo Dias   Wesley dos Santos   Oussou Konan   Gramoz Kurtaj
Song Lam Nghe An   Felipe Martins   Peter Samuel Onyekachi   Igor Jelić
  Bruno Henrique
Than Quang Ninh   Diogo Pereira   Eydison   Gustavo    Geoffrey Kizito   Patrick Leonardo
Dong A Thanh Hoa   Zé Paulo   Louis Ewonde   Gramoz Kurtaj    Samson Kayode   Chevaughn Walsh
  • ^1 Naturalized players whose parents or grandparents were born in Vietnam, thus are regarded as local players.

First phase edit

Table edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Hoang Anh Gia Lai 12 9 2 1 23 9 +14 29 Qualification for AFC Champions League Group stage[a]
2 Viettel 12 8 2 2 16 9 +7 26 Qualification for AFC Cup Group stage[a]
3 Than Quang Ninh 12 6 1 5 12 11 +1 19 Withdrawn after the season's abandonment.[b]
4 Nam Dinh FC 12 6 0 6 23 21 +2 18
5 Dong A Thanh Hoa 12 5 2 5 18 15 +3 17
6 Becamex Binh Duong 12 5 2 5 14 17 −3 17
7 Hanoi FC 12 5 1 6 17 14 +3 16
8 Topenland Binh Dinh 12 4 4 4 10 9 +1 16
9 SHB Danang 12 5 1 6 11 11 0 16
10 Hong Linh Ha Tinh 12 4 3 5 16 17 −1 15
11 Ho Chi Minh City FC 12 4 2 6 14 17 −3 14
12 Haiphong FC 12 4 2 6 7 15 −8 14
13 Saigon FC 12 4 1 7 6 14 −8 13
14 Song Lam Nghe An 12 3 1 8 7 15 −8 10
Source: VPF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Disciplinary points; 5) Play-off; 6) Drawing of lots
Notes:
  1. ^ a b After the abandonment of the season due to effects from COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam, it was decided that the league's first placed team would take the AFC Champions League slot,[15] with the AFC Cup slots to go to the second and third placed teams.[16]
  2. ^ omitted from V-League competitions for 2022, after loss of their main sponsor and other financial difficulties.[17]


Positions by round edit

This table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches.

Team ╲ Round123456789101112
Becamex Binh Duong3261066856566
Dong A Thanh Hoa121271113141089785
Haiphong FC5152589111210912
Hanoi FC1414129347958107
Hoang Anh Gia Lai1183411111111
Ho Chi Minh City FC1061171212131011121311
Hong Linh Ha Tinh91314141413141314141210
Nam Dinh FC151013107567634
Saigon FC69481111121413131113
SHB Danang431143344459
Song Lam Nghe An8101312710111210111414
Than Quang Ninh272622223343
Topenland Binh Dinh749589678978
Viettel13118395432222
Source: Table by round (in Vietnamese)

Results edit

Home \ Away BBD DTH HAI HAN HOA HCM HHT NDI SGN SDN SNA TQN TBD VFC
Becamex Binh Duong 1–0 0–1 [a] 4–3 1–0 1–0
Dong A Thanh Hoa 3–0 1–2[b] 1–1 3–0[c] 1–3 1–0 1–1
Haiphong FC 0–2 0–2 3–2 0–0 2–0 0–2 [a]
Hanoi FC 1–2 3–2 1–1 3–1 4–0 0–1 0–1
Hoang Anh Gia Lai 2–2 1–0 3–0 4–3 2–1 2–1
Ho Chi Minh City FC 3–0 0–3 2–0 1–0 3–0 1–3 1–1
Hong Linh Ha Tinh 4–2[b] 3–5 1–0 0–0 3–2 1–2 1–1
Nam Dinh FC 3–0 3–2 [a] 1–0 1–0 1–2
Saigon FC [a] 0–0 1–0 1–0 0–3 1–0[c]
SHB Danang 2–0 0–2 1–0 1–0 1–2 1–2 1–2
Song Lam Nghe An 2–0 [a] 0–2 1–0 1–1 0–1
Than Quang Ninh 1–0 2–0 [a] 2–0 0–1 1–0 0–1
Topenland Binh Dinh 0–0 0–1 1–0 1–0 1–1 0–1
Viettel 3–1 0–1 0–3 [a] 3–0 2–1
Updated to match(es) played on 2 May 2021. Source: Vietnam Professional Football
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c d e f g Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
  2. ^ a b Played behind closed doors due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in Ho Chi Minh City and Bac Giang province.
  3. ^ a b Played behind closed doors due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in the Hai Duong and Quang Ninh provinces.[18]

Season progress edit

Team ╲ Round123456789101112
Becamex Binh DuongWWLLWDLWLWLD
Dong A Thanh HoaLDWLLLWWDWLW
Haiphong FcWWLWLLLLDDWL
Hanoi FCLLWWWDLLWLLW
Hoang Anh Gia LaiLWWDWWWWWWWD
Ho Chi Minh City FCLWLWLLLWDLDW
Hong Linh Ha TinhLLLDWDLDLWWW
Nam Dinh FCWLLLWWWLLWWL
Saigon FCWLWLLLLLWDWL
SHB DanangWWWLLWWLDLLL
Song Lam Nghe AnDLLWWLLLWLLL
Than Quang NinhWLWLWWWWLLLD
Topenland Binh DinhDWLWLDWDLLWD
ViettelLDWWLWWWWWDW
Source: VPF
W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose

Season statistics edit

As of end of season

Scoring edit

Top scorers edit

Rank Player Club Goals
1   Nguyen Van Toan Hoang Anh Gia Lai 7
  Oussou Konan Nam Dinh FC
  Rodrigo Dias Nam Dinh FC
4   Eydison Than Quang Ninh 6
  Geovane Hanoi FC
  Nguyen Cong Phuong Hoang Anh Gia Lai
  Nguyen Tien Linh Becamex Binh Duong
  Rafaelson SHB Danang
9   Lee Nguyen Ho Chi Minh City FC 5
  Phan Van Duc Song Lam Nghe An

Source: Soccerway

Hat-tricks edit

Player For Against Result Date
  Rafaelson SHB Danang Dong A Thanh Hoa 3–1 (A) 29 March 2021
  Nguyen Tien Linh Becamex Binh Duong Nam Dinh FC 4–3 (H) 8 April 2021

Clean sheets edit

Rank Player Club Clean
sheets
1   Huynh Tuan Linh Hoang Anh Gia Lai 6
2   Nguyen Hoai Anh Than Quang Ninh 5
  Nguyen Thanh Diep Dong A Thanh Hoa
  Tran Nguyen Manh Viettel
5   Dinh Xuan Viet Nam Dinh FC 4
  Pham Van Phong Saigon FC
  Nguyen Tuan Manh SHB Danang
  Tran Dinh Minh Hoang Topenland Binh Dinh
  Tran Duc Cuong Becamex Binh Duong
10 4 players 3

Awards edit

Monthly awards edit

Month Manager of the Month Player of the Month Goal of the Month
Manager Club Player Club Player Club
January/March   Kiatisuk Senamuang Hoang Anh Gia Lai   Nguyen Van Toan Hoang Anh Gia Lai   Phan Van Duc Song Lam Nghe An
April   Kiatisuk Senamuang Hoang Anh Gia Lai   Nguyen Van Toan Hoang Anh Gia Lai   Luong Xuan Truong Hoang Anh Gia Lai

References edit

  1. ^ "V.Leagues sign three year sponsorship deal". vietnamnews.vn. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  2. ^ "V.League 1 opening fixtures released". vnexpress.vn. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  3. ^ "V. League 2021 suspended after players' indirect contact with suspected Covid case". vnexpress.vn. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  4. ^ "V.League to return in late November". vietnamnews.vn. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  5. ^ "Binh Dinh FC win V. League 2, return to top flight after 12 year". vnexpress.vn.
  6. ^ "Kiatisak heads back to Hoang Anh Gia Lai". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Saigon FC appoints Japanese head coach". vnexpress.net. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Sài Gòn FC coach out after three matches". vietnamnews.vn. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  9. ^ "Hà Nội FC coach Nghiêm resigns after Đà Nẵng defeat". vietnamnews.vn. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  10. ^ "Hanoi FC name former national team coach as acting manager amid disappointing league play". tuoitrenews.vn. 5 April 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  11. ^ "Hanoi FC sign South Korean coach amid lackluster season". vnexpress.net. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Poor results at V.League cause SLNA officials' resignation". vietnamnews.vn. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  13. ^ "Đà Nẵng coach resigns after 13 years in charge". vietnamnews.vn. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  14. ^ "SHB Da Nang score new coach". vnexpress.net. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  15. ^ Duc Dong (27 November 2021). "Hoang Anh Gia Lai to represent Vietnam in AFC Champions League 2022". VN Express International. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  16. ^ "Following the cancellation of the 2021 #vleague, it's now confirmed: no championship title awarded, no relegation / promotion, the ranking of teams after 12 rounds determines ACL & AFC allocations". twitter.com. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  17. ^ thamnguyen99 (3 December 2021). "Than Quang Ninh Fans Heartbroken by Club's Demise. Here's why". VietReader. Archived from the original on 18 August 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ "V. League 1 match postponed after fresh Covid-19 transmissions detected". vnexpress.vn. Retrieved 28 January 2021.