Businessman becomes first Vietnamese owner of a European football club

By Dang Khoa   April 23, 2019 | 07:13 pm PT
Businessman becomes first Vietnamese owner of a European football club
A photo from FK Sarajevo website shows the club entering a match in 2016.
Nguyen Hoai Nam, CEO of Berjaya Vietnam, has acquired Bosnia’s FK Sarajevo football club.

According to Bosnian publication sport.avaz.ba, Nam and The Promotion Fund for Vietnamese Football Talent (PVF) teamed up to acquire 60 percent of the Bosnian football club from the previous owner Vincent Tan.

Vincent Tan is the founder of Malaysia-based Berjaya Group that owns Berjaya Vietnam which is a company specialize in office building, hotel, service residences, and shopping mall. He acquired FK Sarajevo six years ago.

The full details of the acquisition have not been released.

Based in Sarajevo, capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, FK Sarajevo will be able to enter the UEFA Champions League (UCL)'s qualifying round next season, since the club currently leads Liga 12 with just six fixtures to go.

Nam has vowed to take Vietnamese players to Europe so they can further hone their footballing skills and gain experience, testing themselves against world’s best football players.

The move is expected to open up opportunities for home-grown football stars.

Vietnam has moved from 99th to 98th place in the latest FIFA rankings for men football, maintaining its position as the best team in Southeast Asia. The country won the AFF Cup last December and the runner-up position at the AFC U23 2018 Championship.

 
 
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