Ho Chi Minh City FC

Ho Chi Minh City Football Club (HCMC FC, Câu lạc bộ bóng đá Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh), simply known as TP Hồ Chí Minh, and commonly known as TPHCM, is a professional football club based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The club competes in the V.League 1, the highest level of Vietnamese football, since the 2017 season after winning the Vietnam's 2016 V.League 2 league in the 2016 season. The club was formerly known as Cảng Sài Gòn (Saigon Port) between 1975 and 2009. The club's home ground is the Thống Nhất Stadium.

History
The Saigon Port Football Club and the Saigon Port Corporation are the two predecessors of the Ho Chi Minh City Football Club. The Saigon Port Company, formerly known as the Saigon Port Football Club, was formally created on November 1, 1975.

The Saigon Port Corporation's officials claimed at the end of 2008 that they no longer had the means to support the football squad. Due to the fact that they only had one primary sponsor, the Vietnam Steel Company, the club's leadership decided to alter the team's name in order to operate on a professional model. The name Ho Chi Minh City Football Club was adopted with the permission of the club's management unit, the Ho Chi Minh City Football Company Ltd, and the Ho Chi Minh City Football Federation, with a 15 billion Vietnamese dong investment for the team.

Because of their devotion to the heritage connected with the name Saigon Port, the club's supporters have expressed disappointment and resistance to the decision to alter the name. Yet, the club's objective was to become a major football club in Ho Chi Minh City, as well as to promote the acquisition of government and commercial aid. The club officially changed its name to Ho Chi Minh City Football Club on January 22, 2009, with the Vietnam Steel Corporation serving as the team's primary sponsor.

The supporters were vehemently opposed to the name change. The whole Fans Association Executive Committee resigned, and the Saigon Port Football Supporters Association dissolved, generating problems for the team in its first season under the new name. They were relegated to Vietnamese Football League Second Division after finishing at the 13th place in the 2009 season. In 2012, the club finished last in the Vietnamese First League. After only one season at the Vietnamese Second League, Ho Chi Minh returned to the First League in 2015. With the ambition to return to top fight, Ho Chi Minh City received big investments and successfully gained a promotion to the V.League 1 after winning the 2016 V.League 2.

Following returning to the V.League 1 in 2017, the team focused more on drawing spectators to the stadium by listening to supporters' criticism and renovating the stadium, stands, and so on. As a consequence, the club's reputation among supporters progressively improved. After that, the Ho Chi Minh City Football Club Fans Association was formed. The squad finished 12th in the league standings in 2017.

First-team squad
As of 17 July 2024

Affiliated clubs

 * 🇸🇬 Geylang International (2019–present)

Ho Chi Minh City and Singapore Premier League club, Geylang International has hinged a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that aims to further the growth of football through the open sharing of technical expertise and knowledge between both clubs. Under this MOU, cooperative efforts between both clubs will be boosted in four key sectors; training, attachments, player transfers, and fan club support. It will also allow the two clubs to send their youth and senior squad to train or participate in short-term tournaments within each other's regions. The agreement will also ensure the priority of players’ transfer for both clubs as well as facilitate the exchange of players and technical staff for training attachments. Additionally, both parties will strive to increase each other's club profile in their own regions and encourage cultural exchanges and interactions between their fan clubs. This includes providing support, privileges, and on-site concierge services for official club tours, visits, or match attendances requested by each other's fan clubs through their respective clubs.

Continental record
All results list Ho Chi Minh City's goal tally first.

Performance in AFC competitions

 * AFC Champions League: 2 appearances
 * 2002–03: Qualification round 3
 * 2020: Preliminary round 2
 * AFC Cup: 1 appearance
 * 2020: Group stage

National competitions

 * League
 * V.League 1/South Vietnam Nation League:
 * Winners: 1977, 1986, 1993–94, 1997, 2001–02
 * Runners-up: 2019
 * Third place: 1985, 1990, 1995
 * V.League 2:
 * Winners: 2004, 2016
 * Third place: 2015
 * Cup
 * Vietnamese Cup:
 * Winners: 1992, 1999–2000
 * Runners-up: 1994, 1996, 1997
 * Third place: 2020, 2019
 * Vietnamese Super Cup:
 * Runners-up: 2000, 2002, 2019

Other competitions

 * BTV Cup:
 * Winners: 2000
 * Runners-up: 2001