French football manager Troussier reaches initial agreement to coach Vietnam national team

Troussier will replace Park Hang-seo, whose contract with VFF will expire on January 31, a source told VnExpress. Troussier and the VFF have been in negotiation recently and both sides have reached an initial agreement. VFF has not announced the deal yet out of respect for coach Park, who ended his five-year run with Vietnamese football after the AFF Cup 2022 final on Monday.

Troussier is keen to be the head coach of Vietnam's national team, and so the negotiations with VFF went well, according to the source. The final issue is just the salary which will be sorted out when VFF finds a partner to pay a part of the salary for Troussier and his assistants. Previously, VFF also had a partner that paid a part of the salary of Park and his South Korean assistants.

The 67-year-old French coach acted as strategic adviser and then technical director at the Promotion Fund of Vietnamese Football Talent (PVF) Academy in 2018.

One year later, he was appointed head coach of U19, who he helped qualified for the U19 AFC Championship 2020, which was later canceled due to Covid-19. He left after his contract with VFF expired in June 2021.

Dubbed the "White Witch Doctor" for his successful stint in Africa, Troussier has managed Ivory Coast, Nigeria, South Africa, and Burkina Faso.

His international career peaked during his spell in Japan (1998 - 2002) when he won the AFC Asian Cup 2000.

Two years later, he led Japan to the final 16 of the FIFA World Cup 2002, the country's best-ever run in the competition at the time. In 2020, the Asian Football Confederation named him one of the greatest coaches in Asian Cup history.