Mai Đức Chung

Mai Đức Chung (born 21 June 1951) is a Vietnamese former football player and coach, who is currently the manager of the Vietnam women's national football team. As of 2023, he is the oldest head coach of a national men or women football team at the FIFA World Cup.

Playing career
Mai Duc Chung was a versatile player who could play in many positions. His forte position was midfielder or striker, but when needed, he could also play in the position of defender. During his peak, he was nicknamed "Chung athletics" due to his ability to run tirelessly. Starting his career as a player, he received many offers from clubs at that time such as the Tổng cục Đường sắt, Công an Hà Nội... However, he accepted the offer to play for a club at a lower level known as Xe ca Hà Nội (which is also the reason behind the nickname Chung "xe ca"). In September 1975, he accepted to play for the Tổng cục Đường sắt and stayed with this club until he retired. Together with the Tổng cục Đường sắt, he won the first national championship in 1980. He was called up to the national team (1981–82) to compete abroad. Mai Duc Chung retired from football in 1984.

Vietnam national youth teams
For a long time, Mai Duc Chung held the position of No. 1 assistant to coach Alfred Riedl in the men's national football team. In 2007, when Mr. Alfred Riedl was absent due to undergoing kidney transplant surgery, Mai Duc Chung took charge of the Vietnam Olympic men's football team during round 2 and 3 of the 2008 Beijing Olympic men's football qualifiers.

After losing the semi-final match at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games against Myanmar U-23s, VFF fired Alfred Riedl, and Mai Duc Chung replaced him to lead the Vietnam U-23 team to the bronze medal match with the Singapore U-23 team. but they lost 0–5. This is also the record failure of the Vietnam U-23 team.

In 2008, VFF appointed him as head coach of Vietnam U-22. In October 2008, he led the Vietnam national U-22 football team to win the 2008 Merdeka Cup in Malaysia (drawn with the Malaysian national team 0–0 after 2 extra time and won 6–5 by 11m kick).

Becamex Binh Duong
In May 2009, Mai Duc Chung was suddenly invited to the position of head coach of Becamex Binh Duong football club. His achievement during his first time in charge of the club was helping them reach the semi-finals of the 2009 AFC Cup; This is the best achievement to date by a Vietnamese football club in the continental playground. At the end of the 2009 V-League, Binh Duong finished the season in second place.

In April 2010, after the first 8 rounds of 2010 V-League season, the leadership of Becamex Binh Duong was not satisfied with the results that the team had achieved when they sit in 4th on the table at that time, so they fired him.

In 2015, he returned to Becamex Binh Duong in the middle of the season to replace his predecessor Le Thuy Hai in the role of technical director of the team. Under his guidance, Becamex Binh Duong quickly return to their form and successfully defend the V.League championship,making it their second title in a row and forth in their history.Along with that, they win the 2015 National Cup for the first time.

Navibank Saigon
Shortly after being fired by Becamex Binh Duong, he became the coach for Navibank Saigon team. Under his guidance, Navibank Saigon won the 2011 National Cup championship. At the end of January 2012, he was appointed as the head coach of the Vietnam national U-19 team.

Thanh Hoa
In early February 2013, he officially became the head coach of Thanh Hoa football club after the club suddenly fired coach Trieu Quang Ha. During his time here, he was entangled in controversies surrounding a clash with a Dong Tam Long An fan after the 0–2 loss to Dong Tam Long An away in the 2014 V.League season. Disagreeing with the club's leaders on a contract issue, coach Mai Duc Chung decided to part ways with the team when the 2014 season is only 3 rounds left, coincidentally with Mr. Chung's return to the national women team.

Vietnam women's national football team
Mai Duc Chung was the first head coach of the Vietnamese women's national team in 1997, with the first success being the women's football bronze medal at the 1997 Southeast Asian Games. He and the team won the first two SEA Games gold medals in 2003 and 2005 before taking a long break from leading the women's team.

In 2014, in preparation for the women's team to attend the Asian Games 2014, VFF hired Mr. Chung to manage the team. Under Mai Duc Chung, the Vietnamese women's team reached the semi-finals and finish 4th at the 2014 ASIAD, their best achievement at the Games until now. His successes with the women's team would continue as they win gold medals at the 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023 Southeast Asian Games, along with the AFF Cup 2019 title.

However, Mai Duc Chung's career with the national women's football team reached its pinnacle in early 2022. After winning against Thailand and Chinese Taipei in a series of play-offs matches for the World Cup 2023 at the Asian Cup 2022, the Vietnamese women's team booked the only direct ticket left to the World Cup. This is the first time in history that a Vietnamese national football team, men or women, in general and a women's team in particular qualified for the world's biggest tournament. More importantly, this achievement came after his team suffered many challenges in the period before and throughout the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After achieving unprecedented achievements with the women's team, Mai Duc Chung expressed his wish to not lead the team anymore and not to take part in the upcoming 2023 World Cup. At the time of his rumored withdrawal, he was over 70 years old and considered himself unfit to be under pressure at every important match or tournament.

Despite this, Chung continued to lead the Vietnam national team at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in New Zealand, setting the record for the oldest coach in the World Cup's history at the age of 73. He outranked Otto Rehhagel (71 years of age), who led the Greece team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Vietnam men's national football team
In 2017, after Nguyen Huu Thang resigned as the head coach of the men's national football team and the national U23 team due to the U23 team's elimination from the group stage of men's football at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, the Vietnam Football Federation asked him to be the interim coach to lead the men's team to play the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifying round against Cambodia. This is the second time he accepted the job as the interim coach of the national men's football team. He helped the team win both Asian Cup qualifying matches against Cambodia at home and away, thereby bringing the team from 3rd place to 2nd in the group. After VFF appointing Park Hang-seo as the head coach of the men's national team and national U23 team, Mai Duc Chung returned to his position as the head coach of the women's national team.

Personal life
Mai Duc Chung was born in Ngoc Ha flower village, Hanoi, but his original hometown is Hung Yen. His birth year was 1951, but many of his peers said he was born in 1949. He was the second child in a family of six sisters. As a child, he often got tickets to the field to watch football thanks to his mother working at Hang Day Stadium. The matches here, especially the confrontations of the North Vietnamese team with the teams of the socialist bloc such as China PR, DPR Korea, Mongolia, etc., have aroused the passion for football in him early on. In 1964, Mr. Chung entered the preparatory class of Tu Son University of Physical Education and Sports, and graduated in 1972.

Mai Duc Chung married Mrs. Pham Thi Ngoc Uyen (born in 1952), a primary school teacher, in 1977. The two have two sons together, one of whom is Mai Quang Hung (born in 1981), former Vietnam U-19 player after became star players of Vietnam national team, such as Duong Hong Son, Huy Hoang, Viet Thang, etc.