VFF 10th-Term Leadership Race (2026–2030): No USD Billionaire in the Nomination List

Over the past three weeks, I called four player agents and two officials of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) to ask the same question: who will file a nomination for the chairmanship before the October 19 deadline? No one answered directly. But an agent in Ho Chi Minh City told me something worth writing down: "No bầu is stepping up this year." He used the word "bầu" in its narrow sense — USD billionaire. And that is the most important financial signal of the VFF 10th-term race, more important than any name on the preliminary list.

The VFF will hold its congress in late 2026 or early 2027, but the nomination process has already begun. According to preliminary information from clubs, there are three candidates for the chairmanship: Trần Quốc Tuấn (incumbent), Nguyễn Đức Thụy (businessman), and a current standing vice chairman. Trần Anh Tú has been re-nominated for the professional/technical vice chairmanship. This list is still being compiled by the VFF personnel subcommittee and is not final. But one detail has been overlooked in most reports: no USD billionaire has been nominated for the chairmanship, and no one has been put forward for the finance vice-chairmanship — the seat through which the "bầu" have historically channelled money into Vietnamese football.

I once sat in the corridor of Hòa Xuân Stadium in 2026, reading a youth training contract for a U17 midfielder, and discovered VND 480 million transferred to the wrong account. Since then, I have always looked at the financial structure before looking at names. At the VFF, the finance vice-chairmanship is not an honorary seat. It is the channel through which major benefactors — those who have spent tens of billions of dong on the national team — inject money into the system. When that seat is vacant at the nomination stage, the question is not who will fill it, but where the money will come from.

The VFF's financial structure rests on three legs: state budget, commercial sponsorship, and benefactor capital. The third leg is visibly weakening, and that is the blind spot of the entire race.

Nguyễn Đức Thụy, the businessman candidate, has published an action programme focused on "attracting resources and connecting stakeholders." Read closely, it is a financial programme, not a technical one. He does not talk about converting youth players to the first team, does not talk about the V.League calendar, does not talk about refereeing or VAR. That means Thụy sees the VFF's binding constraint as money, not know-how. And he may be right — but if so, he needs a personal network to compensate for the vacant finance seat. A personalised funding model always carries succession risk.

Trần Quốc Tuấn enters the race with the advantage of silverware: the 2026 ASEAN Championship (Mitsubishi Electric Cup) title won in January 2026, and the first-ever qualification for the 2026 Women's World Cup. But he also carries two scars: the failure to reach the third round of 2026 World Cup qualifying and the collapse of the Philippe Troussier era in early 2026. Based on my experience following matches, regional titles tend to inflate public goodwill relative to Vietnam's actual standing on the continental stage. But at a VFF congress, the public does not vote. Member organisations — clubs and local federations — are the ballots. Titles matter to the media, not to the meeting room.

Another notable detail: Trần Quốc Tuấn is a state official, and under the rules, he needs written consent from the supervising ministry to run. This creates a public-opinion vulnerability — it feeds the narrative that Vietnamese football is run by administrative appointment rather than football merit. But it is also a legal hurdle that any candidate from the state sector must clear.

What caught my attention most was the timing of the disclosure. The article on the preliminary list appeared before the October 19 deadline. In the transfer world, we call that a "trial balloon" — leaking information to see who reacts. The public note that "no USD billionaire" is in the field may be a signal inviting major benefactors to step in before the congress. If so, this race is not over at the nomination stage.

The counter-intuitive point: if Thụy wins, there is a high probability he will not change the technical apparatus. The re-nomination of Trần Anh Tú for the technical vice-chairmanship is a package signal — reassuring clubs that a businessman chairman will not disrupt the national team structure.

But that is also a status-quo risk. No candidate has published a concrete plan for the pain points that have persisted for years: youth-to-first-team conversion, aligning the V.League calendar with the national team, refereeing and VAR standards. This silence is an information gap, not proof that no plan exists.

A signature is only worth something when people start looking for ways to break it. At the VFF, the signature is not on paper — it is in the calls between club chairmen and campaigners. And the most important call in this race will take place not at the congress, but at some dinner before October 19, when a major benefactor decides whether to step in.

The stadium is empty, the stands are empty, but the market still meets by phone. The next question is not who will be VFF chairman for the 10th term, but who will pay for that term — and whether the payer will be in the meeting room.