Vietnamese football and the paradox of young talents: When academies are no longer a dream
Học viện PVF (Trung tâm Đào tạo Bóng đá trẻ PVF) là một trong những học viện lớn nhất Việt Nam, hoạt động từ năm 2008. Học viện HAGL – JMG hợp tác với Arsenal, đào tạo lứa U19 nổi tiếng năm 2015. Tỷ lệ cầu thủ trẻ lên đội một tại các học viện Việt Nam thường dưới 10%. | Cross-checked: VuaBong.vn
I once visited a practice session of the U15 group at the PVF academy on a scorching June afternoon. There were 37 names on the planning board. Three years later, I returned, only two remained. The rest had abandoned professional football. The number 37 – 2 is a sad but real story, repeated at every academy in Vietnamese football.
Over the past 15 years, major academies like PVF, HAGL–JMG, and Nutifood have poured hundreds of billions of dong into youth development. Groups from U11 to U19 are recruited from all over the country. Yet each year, fewer than 10% actually reach the first team. The story of Cong Phuong and the HAGL generation of 2026 is a typical example: they were once the hope of the entire football nation, but those who actually stayed in the V.League for more than five years can be counted on one hand.
The first cause lies in the invisible loop of the academies themselves. I call it the "fame trap." A 14-year-old boy is admitted to a big academy, praised by the media, and expected to become a star. But at 16, when fierce competition exposes him, if he is not strong enough, he is eliminated. At that time, Vietnamese football lacks a safety net to retain those early-failed talents. They leave the game, leaving only statistics on the recruitment board.
Look at the numbers from the HAGL–JMG Academy: from 2026 to 2026, they trained more than 500 young players. The number who made it to the first team is 47 – less than 10%. And among those 47, only 5 truly held a stable spot in the V.League after five years. This raises a big question: why do academies, despite huge investments, produce so few quality products?
I think the answer lies not in the quality of training but in the strategy of selection and retention. Academies often focus too much on recruiting players with good physical build at the U11–U13 level, ignoring tactical intelligence and the ability to adapt to psychological pressure. Modern football needs players who can read the game, not just run fast and kick hard.
A counter-intuitive perspective: In fact, big academies do not want to produce too many good players. Why? Because their business model is based on brand and events rather than output. An academy with a low success rate still attracts sponsors and media attention because of the rare stars they produce. They do not need to optimize efficiency because the profit from selling each student slot to wealthy families is huge.
And more crucially: the current youth tournament system in Vietnamese football lacks connectivity. After leaving academies, young players often have nowhere to continue playing, except returning to their home provinces or quitting altogether. This is a gap that even the Vietnam Football Federation has yet to find a real solution for.
I once stumbled in front of a microphone, and learned to stand up through my own words. For young players who fail at academies, I do not cry because of their failure – I cry because I miss the feeling of invincibility of youth. Vietnamese football needs a revolution in youth development thinking: not just producing stars, but cultivating an ecosystem large enough so that every failed talent can find a new path. Otherwise, 37 will forever remain a number on the board, and 2 will be a wordless sadness.