RECORD 1.8 MILLION FANS FOR V-LEAGUE 2009 MATCHES

Through the figures released recently by the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), an increased of 10,000 fans per game were recorded.

Special mention were also accorded in the report of the achievements of young coaches Le Huynh Duc and Nguyen Van Sy, who led SHB Da Nang to the V-League title and Ninh Binh to the First Division title respectively.

“Players scored a total of 548 goals in 182 matches in the V-League, with an average of three goals per game. There was an increase in the attendance of more than 10,000 fans attending each game – an increase of 40 per cent from the previous year,” said Tran Quoc Tuan, the general secretary of the VFF, of the league which turned professional nine years ago.

“But the organising boards in some stadiums did not control crowd violence well. Fans threw bottles and objects onto the pitch and used abusive language towards referees and opposing teams.

“In some crucial games, players feigned injury to waste time, causing fans to become aggressive. The game between Military Zone 4 and Thanh Hoa at Thanh Hoa stadium, which the military team won 2-1, saw players refuse to play on. These sorts of things put Vietnamese football in a bad light.”

Tran revealed that, the V-League 2009 also saw 845 yellow and 52 red cards handed out.

But in spite of the economic crisis, 14 V-League teams spent a total of VND300 billion (USD 17 million) this year on players with Vietnamese footballers were being paid on average of between VND10 million (USD561) and VND20 million (USD1,100) a month – a record for the game in Vietnam.

Top striker Le Cong Vinh signed a transfer deal worth USD400,000 to move from Song Lam Nghe An to Ha Noi T&T with him emerging as one of the highest paid Vietnamese players – earning VND40 million (USD 2,400) a month.

In the meantime, the VFF has named Duong Van Hien (pix) as the best referee of the just concluded season.

It is the third year in a row that the HCM City-born referee has won the Golden Whistle award.

In his 27 matches in the 2009 football season, he received 8.63 points – the highest among the five nominees of the National Referee Council.

Linesman Nguyen Ngoc Ha from Hai Duong was given the Golden Flag award.

The bonus for the Golden Whistle winner is VND 30 million (USD 1,700), VND 20 million (USD 1,100) for the Silver Whistle and VND 10 million (USD 561) for the Bronze Whistle winners.

The bonus for the Golden, Silver and Bronze Flag winners are VND 20 million (USD 1,100), VND 12 million (USD 673) and VND 8 million (USD 448) respectively.