Thep Xanh Nam Dinh F.C.

Thep Xanh Nam Đinh Football Club (Câu lạc bộ bóng đá Thép Xanh Nam Định), known as Nam Dinh, is a Vietnamese professional football club based in Nam Định that competes in the V.League 1.

History
Nam Định has two sports facilities, Thiên Trường Stadium (formerly Cuối Stadium) and Trần Quốc Toản Indoor Stadium, which are host to football and volleyball matches. Both sports centers are located on Hùng Vương Street.

At the beginning, the club's home stadium was a dust and sandy training ground of the militia forces where were usually called as Sân Dệt or the "stadium" of the Namdinh Spinning Factory. It was old crisis of the Vietnamese National Army's military academy.

From the end of 1970s, their home stadium was Thiên Trường Stadium. During the Vietnam War, this stadium had become a big, polluted pond with some vegetable fields. Formerly Sân Chùa-Cuối or the "Pagoda at end of the street" Stadium from one uninhibited temple which has got some daoist icons. So it was often named as "a factory weaves wishes" (nhà máy dệt giấc mơ).

Before 1997, the club's kit always used home colors black-white which were similar to Juventus. It originates from name Namha Youths, so during the 1980-1990s they were called as "Vietnamese Juventus" by sport medias. However, after some changing times due to sponsor replacements, it was fixed as the yellow, then added lime-red.

Hà Nam Ninh won the National Football Champions (V.League) in 1985 with star player Nguyễn Văn Dũng.

In 2001, Nam Định took second place in the National Championships, losing to Bình Định In 2007, the Nam Định football team changed its name to Đạm Phú Mỹ Nam Định and won its first National Cup under its new name. In 2009 the Nam Định Football team changed its name to Megastar Nam Định and failed in standing on V.League to 1st level tournament 2010.

From 2003 to present, the club currently competes in the V.League with a sponsor of former minister Đinh La Thăng as a businessman, the top flight of Vietnamese football.

In 2011, the team changed its name back to Mikado Nam Định and was relegated to the second division after only one year. In 2012, Mikado Nam Định failed to win promotion to the first division after losing on penalties to the Khánh Hòa youth team in the semi-finals. In 2014, Nam Định won a place in the 2015 First Division after defeating Vĩnh Long 4–0 in the Second Division final at Tam Kỳ Stadium, Quảng Nam. In 2016, the team finished third overall and took part in the play-off of the 2016 National First Division but failed to win promotion to the V.League.

The following season, the team won the 2017 First Division championship and won the only place to play in the 2018 V.League. In 2019, the team introduced a new sponsor, Nam Ha Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company, and changed its name to Nam Ha Nam Dinh Pharmaceutical Football Club to compete in the V.League 2019. In this season, the team had a 2–2 draw against Hoang Anh Gia Lai. In 2021, the team changed its name back to Nam Dinh Football Club after the end of the contract with Nam Ha Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company.

After many poor seasons and even near relegation, since 2023 under the guidance of head coach Vũ Hồng Việt, Nam Dinh has continuously been in the top 5 strongest teams in V-League.

Top tier league champions
On 25 June 2024, Nam Dinh officially won the 2023–24 V.League 1 title after winning Khanh Hoa 5–1. It its the club first tier league title after 39 years since their last win in 1985. AFC also confirmed that the club will participate in the inaugural 2024–25 AFC Champions League Two group stage making their return to the intercontinental tournament since the 2008 AFC Champions League.

Name history
The name of club was also changed 10 times due to sponsor replacements :


 * Le Cotonkin (Hội túc cầu Hồng Bàng, 1920–1945)
 * Namha Youths (Đoàn bóng tròn Thanh niên Nam Hà, 1965–1978)
 * Hanamninh Industry (Đoàn bóng đá Công nghiệp Hà Nam Ninh, 1978–1991)
 * Namha (CLB BĐ Nam Hà, 1991–1996)
 * Nam Đinh (CLB BĐ Nam Định, 1997–2003)
 * SongdaNam Đinh (CLB BĐ Sông Đà-Nam Định, 2003–2006)
 * Mikado-Nam Đinh (CLB BĐ Mikado-Nam Định, 2006–2007)
 * Phumy Fertilizer Nam Đinh (CLB BĐ Đạm Phú Mĩ-Nam Định, 2007–2008)
 * Mikado Nam Đinh (CLB BĐ Mikado-Nam Định, 2006–2007)
 * Megastar Nam Định (CLB BĐ Megastar-Nam Định, 2009–2011)
 * Mikado Nam Đinh (CLB BĐ Mikado-Nam Định, 2011–2013)
 * Nam Đinh (CLB BĐ Nam Định, 2013–2019)
 * Namha Pharma Nam Đinh (CLB BĐ Dược Nam Hà-Nam Định, 2019–2020)
 * Nam Đinh (CLB BĐ Nam Định, 2021–2022)
 * Thep Xanh Nam Đinh (CLB BĐ Thép Xanh-Nam Định, 2023–present)

Current squad
As of 16 July 2024

Performance in AFC competitions

 * AFC Champions League Elite: 1 appearance
 * 2008: Group stage

National competitions

 * League
 * V.League 1
 * Winners: 1985, 2023–24
 * Runners-up: 2000–01, 2004
 * V.League 2
 * Winners: 2017
 * Second League
 * Winners: 2014


 * Cup
 * Vietnamese Cup
 * Winners: 2007
 * Third place: 2023-24

Other competitions

 * China-ASEAN Cities Football Invitational Tournament
 * Winners: 2016
 * Runners-up: 2017