North Vietnam national football team

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam national football team (Vietnamese: Đội tuyển bóng đá quốc gia Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa) was the national team of the communist-controlled Democratic Republic of Vietnam (known as "North Vietnam") from 1956 to 1975.

It existed side by side with a separate South Vietnam team, which already appeared in 1949 before the country's division and represented the capitalist-oriented southern portion of Vietnam. Unlike South Vietnam (which was a member of both FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation), North Vietnam's lack of diplomatic recognition on the part of many other states prevented it from ever joining either FIFA or the AFC. Due to its lack of membership in major football bodies, North Vietnam never participated in qualification for the FIFA World Cup or the AFC Asian Cup (unlike its southern counterpart, which participated in both). Because of North Vietnam's international isolation, its national team mostly played against other Communist and Communist-sympathizing countries during its relatively short-lived existence.^[1]

The North Vietnam football team played its last game in 1970 and ceased to exist with the unification of North and South Vietnam in 1975 (officially in 1976), when the Vietnam War ended. Even though the North emerged victorious in the war, the current Vietnam national football team is considered a successor to the South Vietnam team (not the North Vietnam team), since unified Vietnam inherited South Vietnam's membership of FIFA and the AFC.^[2][3]

Although "North Vietnamese" government was proclaimed in 1945, their first international match was against China in 1956, two years after Vietnam was divided and their existence was recognized. Their head coach, Trương Tấn Bửu, played a 3-2-5 (WM) formation but the game ended in a 3–5 defeat. The team recorded their first victory in 1960 with a 3–1 win against Mongolia.

Since North Vietnam was not a member of international federations such as FIFA, the AFC, or the International Olympic Committee, its football team participated in very few international competitions. Their most notorious international participations were in the football tournament of the Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO). North Vietnam proved to be a relatively strong side in the GANEFO competition, finishing fourth in the 1963 edition and third in the 1966 edition. They also earned third place in the football-only GANEFO event that took place in 1965.^[4]

After Vietnamese reunification, both North and South Vietnamese teams were superseded by the Vietnam national football team, which represents the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam. With unified Vietnam having taken over South Vietnam's membership of FIFA and the AFC, its historical football record is nominally merged with that of South Vietnam, while North Vietnam is treated as a separate team.^[5][6]

The home kit of North Vietnam was similar to the kit of the Soviet Union consisting of a red shirt, with the legend "VIET NAM DCCH" ("Democratic Republic of Vietnam") across the front in white, white shorts and white-red socks. The away kit was a white shirt with "VIET NAM DCCH" across the chest in red, red shorts and red-white socks.

The goalkeeper's kit was a black shirt with a white collar, black shorts and socks.

• Trương Tấn Bửu (1956–1957)^[7]
• Anatoly Akimov (1958–1960)^[8]
• Veniamin Krylov (1964—1966)^[8][9]
• Nguyễn Thành Đô (1966–19??)^[9][10]
• Nguyễn Văn Quý (Unknown)^[8]
• Nguyễn Văn Đinh (Unknown)^[8]
• Zakov (Unknown)^[8]

The list shown below shows the North Vietnam national football team all-time international record against opposing teams.^[11][12]

Key

This is a list of the North Vietnam national football team results.^[11][12]

• Football in Vietnam