Coaches come and go in V.League 1

Coach Kiatisuk Senamuang, who recently bid farewell to Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, has been selected to lead Hà Nội Police. — Photo vietnamnet.vn

Football

HÀ NỘI Despite the hiatus of V.League 1 to accommodate the national team’s participation in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup finals, several clubs have taken advantage of the break to make coaching changes in pursuit of their goals.

The national premier league has only completed eight matches, yet already 10 coaches have been relieved of their duties. During the current V.League 1 break, three teams have opted to change their coaches.

The first team to make a coaching change is Thể Công Viettel Club. Coach Nguyễn Đức Thắng has officially taken over as the team’s head coach, relegating the previous coach, Thomas Dooley, to the position of technical director. Thạch Bảo Khanh has also departed from the team.

Thắng becomes the third coach for Viettel in just eight games of the V.League 1 2023-24 season. Initially, due to a poor start, Khanh had to step down after the sixth game, making way for Dooley. However, Dooley’s tenure was short-lived, as he suffered two heavy losses in subsequent matches before being replaced by Thắng.

The reigning V.League 1 champions Hà Nội Police find themselves in a similar situation. After the first three matches, coach Gong Oh-kyun took over from Trần Tiến Đại. However, after the seventh match, Gong retired, and Đại resumed his position. Now, Kiatisuk Senamuang, who recently bid farewell to Hoàng Anh Gia Lai (HAGL), has been selected to lead Hà Nội Police.

Kiatisuk is a Thai football legend who won V.League 1 titles with HAGL in 2003 and 2004 as a player. In 2020, he returned to HAGL as the club’s head coach, and he also achieved great success as the head coach of the Thailand national team from 2014 to 2017.

In his first season with HAGL, he guided them to the top of V.League 1 after 12 rounds with 29 points. Unfortunately, the league was later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since then, HAGL has struggled to maintain their form. They finished eighth in the 2022 season, fought against relegation in 2023, and currently find themselves in last place this season, having earned only five points from eight matches.

According to Kiatisuk, HAGL’s lack of investment in new players forced him to rely on young talents from the academy, which explains the team’s poor results.

At Hà Nội Police, Kiatisuk will have a stronger squad with national team players such as Filip Nguyễn, Đoàn Văn Hậu, Bùi Hoàng Việt Anh, Phan Văn Đức, Hồ Tấn Tài, and Nguyễn Quang Hải.

The Thai coach will have more than a month to settle into his new role since the current V.League 1 season is on break due to the national team’s participation in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup finals, scheduled until February 18.

Supporting Kiatisuk at Hà Nội Police are two assistants, Bundit Thiabthong, a recovery specialist, and Witoon Mingkwan, a physical fitness coach. Yesterday, Kiatisuk met the entire team before commencing his work.

Hà Nội FC appointed Daiki Iwamasa from Japan as their new coach. — Photo Hà Nội FC

Another team, Hà Nội FC, has also made a coaching change. The club’s leadership decided to transfer coach Đinh Thế Nam back to the role of director of the Hà Nội Youth Football Training Centre, and officially appointed Daiki Iwamasa from Japan as the new coach.

Iwamasa becomes the fourth coach for Hà Nội FC this season. Following the dismissal of coach Bozidar Bandovic, the capital city’s team had appointed two interim coaches, Nam and Lê Đức Tuấn, in succession.

Accordingly, Iwamasa’s contract with Hà Nội FC is valid until the end of the 2023/24 season and will be extended if he successfully leads the team to compete for the V.League 1 championship and the National Cup. Therefore, Iwamasa’s contract with Hà Nội will last approximately five months.

The ongoing V.League 1 2023-24 season has witnessed numerous coaching changes, reflecting the ambitious nature of the teams. It is predicted that the coaching carousel in the league will not stop, considering that only one-third of the season has been completed. VNS