V.League 1

The V.League 1 (Giải bóng đá Vô địch Quốc gia Việt Nam), also called Night Wolf V.League 1 for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football league in Vietnam, controlled by the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF). It is contested by 14 clubs who play each other on a home and away basis. The team finishing at the top at the end of the season is crowned the champion and enters the AFC Champions League Two.

The league was founded in 1980 as the All Vietnam Football Championship, with Tổng Cục Đường Sắt the first winner. The league turned professional in the 2000–01 season, which allowed clubs to hire foreign players. Vietnam Professional Football (VPF) was established in 2012, and the organising power was transferred from the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) to Vietnam Professional Football Jointstock Company (VPF).

The Cong-Viettel and Hanoi have won the title 6 times each, the most among V-League clubs. The Cong-Viettel (formerly Thể Công) also has a total of 19 national titles since 1954, with Hai Phong second accumulating 13 titles. The current champion is Cong An Ha Noi which won the 2023 edition.

Pre-unification to 1979
The Vietnamese football league system was formed in 1955. From the beginning, this League (AKA the Northern league) was split into Division A and Division B. The South Vietnamese league was formed in 1960. Since then, league football has been played north and south even during war time. The number of teams was extraordinary. For example, Haiphong had 10 clubs back then. Hai Phong Police has won 10 titles in the North, while Thể Công has won 9.

After reunification, Vietnamese football leagues were played on a regional basis: Hồng Hà League in the North; Trường Sơn League in the Central; and Cửu Long League in the South.

Responding to the constraints of organizing in regions, VFF reorganised the league system during the 1979 season.

Foundation and early days
The V.League 1, as it is known today, began in 1980 when the first All Vietnam Football Championship was launched. Seventeen clubs participated in the competition (originally 18, but Thể Công withdrawn due to internal reasons) which was split into three groups and conducted more like a cup competition, with the winner from each group qualifying for the Championship Stage. Công An Hà Nội, Tổng Cục Đường Sắt and Hải Quan were the three teams to qualify, with Tổng Cục Đường Sắt ultimately taking the title. That format, reduced to two groups, continued until 1995 when the league reverted to a more traditional league format.

Turning professional
League football in Vietnam turned professional in the 2000–2001 season, which saw the league change its name to its current moniker, V-League 1. In that inaugural V-League 1 season, only ten clubs participated, with tighter restrictions meaning fewer teams. Over the next decade, the league grew from 10 teams to the current fourteen, with the team that finishes on top of the table qualifying for the AFC Champions League Group Stage. Clubs were allowed to hire foreign players from this season on.

VPF establishment
Following a season marred by accusations of refereeing corruption and a cover-up by the V.League governing body Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), six clubs (Đồng Tâm Long An, Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, Hanoi ACB, Vissai Ninh Bình, Khatoco Khánh Hòa and Lam Sơn Thanh Hóa ) threatened to leave the league and form an entirely new league for the 2012 season. The most outspoken club in the move was Hanoi ACB, who had been relegated from the V.League, with its chairman Nguyễn Đức Kiên announcing that ACB would spearhead the move. Due to the controversy, EximBank expressed its intention to drop its title sponsorship of the league. League officials scrambled to resolve the issues, going so far as to hire foreign referees for the 2012 season. After a meeting on 29 September, representatives of the VFF, the 14 V.League 1 teams, and 14 V.League 2 teams announced the formation of a new corporation, the VPF, Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company to manage the V-League. The VFF would hold a 36% stake in the new corporation, and the rest would be held by clubs.

From the 2012 season, the organising power was transferred from the VFF to the VPF (Vietnamese Professional Football), and the "V.League 1" was renamed the "Super League". This name change was short-lived, reverting to "V.League 1" later in the season. The first division was renamed the "V.League 2". At the same time, many clubs found themselves with financial problems and sponsor issues, and many withdrew, merged, bought another club, or failed to meet league requirements. As a result, the number of clubs in each league changed dramatically.

Season change
From 2023, the V.League's schedule will be restructured. The 2023 V.League 1 season was the last season to be played from spring to autumn format. The 2023–24 V.League 1 season will also be played to mark the change, running from autumn 2023 to near summer 2024, in line with most domestic leagues in the world.

Competition format

 * The V.League 1 season starts in February/March and ends in September. In each season, each club plays each of the other clubs twice, once at home and another away, for a total of 26 games.
 * Teams are ranked by total points, head-to-head, goal difference and goals scored.
 * Top team qualifies for AFC Champions League Group stage.
 * For 2010 season, two bottom teams are relegated to the Vietnam First Division while third lowest placed team goes to play-off with the third highest placed team from the First Division.
 * Starting in the 2013 season, the number of clubs participating in the V.League 1 would be decreased from fourteen to twelve after three clubs failed to register. Also in the same season, the bottom team will be relegated to the First Division while the top three teams from the First Division will be promoted into the V-League 1.
 * Starting in the 2015 season, the league is competed by 14 teams.

Sponsorship
Since the 2000–2001 season, the V.League 1 has been branded with a principal sponsor's name and logo. The following companies have acted as principal sponsors:

2013 controversy
After Xuân Thành Sài Gòn was docked points for what the VFF deemed the club's unsportsmanlike conduct in fielding a non-competitive squad for their Matchday 20 meeting with Sông Lam Nghệ An, club officials announced that the club would withdraw from the league. On 22 August 2013, the VFF approved Xuân Thành Sài Gòn's withdrawal request. Matches involving the club were vacated. The VFF is still debating if the last place club will still be relegated to V.League 2, though the league charter states that the club in 12th place would be the only club relegated in the 2013 campaign.

Relegation was cancelled for the 2013 campaign after Xuân Thành Sài Gòn withdrew from the V.League 1 before the conclusion of the season. QNK Quảng Nam, Than Quảng Ninh and Hùng Vương An Giang, as winners, first runners-up and second runners-up respectively, were promoted from the 2013 V.League 2 season. Kienlongbank Kiên Giang failed to apply for the 2014 campaign and subsequently folded during the offseason.

2014 match-fixing scandal
Vissai Ninh Bình wrote to the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and to the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company to be allowed to stop their participation in the league and also the AFC Cup due to 13 players being involved in match fixing. They had played eight league matches and were third from bottom at the time. Following their withdrawal from the league, all their results were declared null and void.

Due to the match fixing scandal and withdrawal of Vissai Ninh Bình, it was decided that the bottom-placed team at the end of the season will take part in a play-off match against the third-placed team in the First Division for the right to play in the V-League next season.

One owner, many teams
On July 5, 2019, Đoàn Nguyên Đức, chairman of Hoàng Anh Gia Lai Club, commented on the situation of one owner owning multiple teams in the V.League. When TP.HCM was leading the standings, talking about TP.HCM's chances of winning the championship this season, bầu Đức said: "I always confirm that TP.HCM cannot win the V.League this year because they are one team, how to face 5 teams. 5 skinny guys beat one fat guy, how can the fat guy stand it?" . Bầu Đức's statement was reminiscent of Đỗ Quang Hiển - who was then the owner and special sponsor of 7 clubs in the V.League 1 and V.League 2. Previously, in 2018, Đoàn Nguyên Đức also said that the situation of one owner owning multiple teams would reduce the motivation to invest in Vietnamese football. Public opinion believes that in the 10 years from 2009 to 2019, only two consecutive championships in 2018 and 2019 were Hanoi FC clearly demonstrating their strength, thanks to a national team squad that sometimes reached 10 people; the remaining championships all had the "fingerprints" of the point-scoring relationships between Hanoi - Da Nang - Quang Nam - Saigon - Quang Ninh - Hong Linh Ha Tinh (which are the clubs of Bầu Hiển). The 2022 season also met with controversy when there was a current of public opinion that the 2022 V.League championship of Hanoi FC was also partly due to referee decisions in favor of the purple team. In addition, Bầu Hiển also caused a lot of controversy when he personally went down to encourage and give money to his own teams in matches between teams related to Bầu Hiển, such as with Saigon, Quang Nam, or SHB Da Nang. In 2012, after Sài Gòn Xuân Thành failed to win the championship when they were held to a draw by Hà Nội T&T in the final round, allowing SHB Đà Nẵng to win, owner Nguyễn Đức Thụy announced that he would quit football because of too much injustice and oppression; in the 2013 season, he officially disbanded the team. FLC Group chairman Trịnh Văn Quyết, after withdrawing sponsorship from Thanh Hóa in 2018, also hinted that "you can't win when you only have one team."

The situation of one owner managing or owning multiple teams has become a problem that causes many fans to worry, especially about the transparency and fairness when these teams compete in the same league. Not a few fans hope that VPF needs to take strong measures, specify regulations on banning one person from holding management positions or shares, capital contributions at more than 1 team in the same league to make V.League more fair, cleaner and improve the competitiveness of the tournament.

Match-fixing
In recent years, the phenomenon of "asking for points and giving points" has become a headache for organizers, as the tournament is believed to have emerged as some alliances between football teams. The situation of "accumulating points" to win or stay in the league often occurs in V.League, in which the formula of "3 away – 3 return" has become popular for teams in an alliance to maximize points for each other. In addition to accumulating points, teams in the alliance also put their efforts to hinder the opponents of the winning candidate belonging to their alliance. Many matches have taken place with abnormal manifestations that have caused anger for fans because of the spirit of competition that is considered to be weak, not giving their all. The tournament organizer has also repeatedly issued sanctions, such as subtracting points from football teams in matches that are not active, but the situation of "giving points" still continues.

The People's Police newspaper noted that the problem of match-fixing is also related to the issue of "one owner, multiple teams". In 2017, the public raised many doubts when Hanoi FC, who were full of hope to win the championship, unexpectedly drew 4-4 with Than Quảng Ninh in a match that the capital team had led by 2 goals. It is worth noting that this score was just enough for Quảng Nam to win the championship for the first time. Statistics from the 2019 season show that Ho Chi Minh City FC only won 23% of points from Đà Nẵng, Sài Gòn, Quảng Nam and Quảng Ninh, while Hà Nội received 13 out of 15 maximum points before these teams. In the 2017 season, FLC Thanh Hóa lost 22 points to the "brotherhood" group while Quảng Nam lost 9 points.

To monitor and control suspicious matches, VPF has previously partnered with Sportradar, a football betting control company, and then Genius Sports (headquartered in Singapore and with a global network) since the 2019 season. In a statement in the 2022 season, VPF had to ask the teams to play their best, not to give points to each other.

Refereeing
The refereeing issue has been going on in the tournament for many years and has caused a lot of resentment in the public. Many controversial decisions, even mistakes by referees, have eroded the trust of clubs and fans in the organizers, and the image of the tournament has also been affected. In a statement in the 2023 season, Vũ Tiến Thành, the coach of HCM City Club, said that there is a group of referees who are manipulated, and some referees are making the image of the refereeing force worse. Thành also questioned the referee's ideology when working.

The referee assignment for the tournament has also been questioned. This has led to the disappointment of fans when some referees who do not meet the standards are often assigned to important matches. Some people even question whether the referees are "not biased then weak in terms of expertise" when there have been too many mistakes occurring continuously. One of the temporary solutions proposed to address this situation is to hire foreign referees to officiate some of the tournament matches.

Due to the continuous occurrence of refereeing errors, which have affected the results of matches, the need to equip VAR for V.League has become increasingly urgent to improve the quality of the tournament. From the end of 2022, VPF has begun to carry out the necessary procedures to soon implement VAR in V.League. VPF expects VAR to begin to be deployed on a trial basis from the second phase of the 2023 season, before being applied officially from the 2023-2024 season.

Conflict of Interest Related to Sponsors
The V.League regulations typically stipulate that clubs are not allowed to exploit sponsorships with brands and industries that compete with the league's main sponsor since the date the league regulations are issued or when notified by the organizer. However, if the team already has a main sponsor that operates in the same industry as the league's main sponsor from before or has an owner (shareholder) who holds the highest number of shares has business operations in the same industry as the league's main sponsor, then their rights are still protected. The cases of Hoàng Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) in 2018 with VPMilk and in 2022 with Red Bull are typical examples of this exception.

However, ahead of the 2023 season, when VPF announced to HAGL that the team's new sponsor (Carabao Corporation) was in conflict of interest with the league's main sponsor and requested the team not to use the images of the new sponsor within the scope of the tournament, controversy ensued. VPF's regulations were met with fierce backlash from fans who were accused of making it difficult for clubs, hindering the development of Vietnamese football. HAGL also said that VPF's decision was "completely unreasonable and did not create conditions for the club to develop," and threatened to withdraw from V.League if VPF did not allow them to advertise for the new sponsor.

Television rights
Television rights have been one of the most pressing issues in the top-tier club competition in Vietnam for many years. The first time V.League "sold" television rights was in the 2005 season. However, the value of the contract signed between VFF and the television stations at that time was not really significant. In order for a match to be broadcast live, VFF and the clubs had to pay a fee and even cover the cost of accommodation, travel, and allowances for the television station.

At the end of 2010, the V.League broadcasting rights were sold by VFF to An Vien Television (AVG) for 20 years, with a price of VND 6 billion for the first year and then a 10% annual increase. However, after the establishment of VPF, this company took back the V.League broadcasting rights contract from AVG and committed to exploiting at least VND 50 billion per year from the broadcasting rights. However, the deal fell through at the last minute after bầu Kiên was arrested.

In October 2022, VPF reached a television rights agreement with FPT Telecom for 5 seasons, from the 2023 season to the 2026–27 season. The agreement ensures that each year, FPT Telecom will pay 2.5 million USD for one season, 20 times higher than the previous contract, and on average, each club will receive several billion dong in television rights in one season.

2023-2024 season
Fourteen clubs compete in the V.League 1's, with two coming from the V.League 2's previous season:

a Founding member of the V.League 1

b Never been relegated from the V.League 1

Rules on foreign players
Clubs are allowed to register three foreign players per season. In prior seasons, clubs were allowed to register only two foreign players.

From 2015 season, the number of foreign players allowed for clubs was reduced to 2 players plus 1 naturalised player.

From 2019 season, the rules on foreign players changed again. The number of foreign players allowed for clubs are 3 players and 1 naturalised player.

Top scorers by season
Since the 2000 season, when foreign players could play in the league, the top goalscorers have always been foreign players or naturalised players (except Nguyễn Anh Đức from Becamex Bình Dương in 2017 season)

Awards
The V.League Awards is an award given annually by the Vietnam Professional Football Jointstock Company for the best players, head coaches, and referees of the league. Since 2012, the awards are given in a ceremony at the end of the league season.

List of champions
The following is a historical list of champions and runners-up of the V.League 1 by season. Superscripts in brackets (such as (2)) indicate a repeat win.

Youth League
In addition to the V-League, there is also a reserve youth League for U-19 players, with the aim to improve the quality of V-League and to become the future seeds for the clubs and national team themselves.