Foreign players, coach to leave V. League

HCMC FC have terminated their contracts with two Brazilian forwards, Junior Barros and Patrick da Silva. Vietnamese-American midfielder Lee Nguyen has also returned to the U.S. and there’s a high chance he’ll not continue playing for HCMC.

Head coach of HCMC Alexandre Polking will part ways with the club too, after his contract expires in October this year.

"Coach Polking will not stay at the club after both sides agreed not to extend his contract, which will expire in October 2021. He might return to work in Thailand," said Wasphol Kaewan, his former assistant.

Polking started coaching HCMC in early 2021 with a monthly salary of $30,000, which made him the highest-paid coach in V. League. However, he failed to meet expectations as HCMC only peaked 11th after 12 games.

Other clubs like Hoang Anh Gia Lai have also parted ways with foreign players like Serbian defender Damir Memovic and Nigerian-Vietnamese striker Nguyen Trung Dai Duong. South Korean Kim Dong-su will also leave the club soon for military service in his country.

Nam Dinh FC have terminated the contracts of Brazilian forward Rodrigo Dias, defender Wesley Rodrigues and Ivorian forward Oussou Konan. Song Lam Nghe An have also released Nigerian forward Peter Samuel.

V. League 2021 has been postponed since May 7 due to Covid-19. The league was intended to resume on July 31 but the pandemic situation prevented it. Organizers later proposed to reschedule the league to February next year but faced opposition from many clubs.

On Aug. 21, Vietnam Football Federation decided to call off V. League 2021.