VFF Term 10: The Chairman Race Is a Decoy, the Finance Vice Chair Seat Is the Real Prize

On October 21, 2026, the list of candidates for the VFF Executive Committee for term 10 (2027-2031) was announced with 3 candidates for Chairman, 8 for Vice Chairman, and 31 for the Executive Committee. The number 31 sounds impressive, but a look at the structure reveals an immediate paradox: 18 of the 31 Executive Committee candidates come from clubs, meaning the voice of club owners will hold a majority in the most powerful body of Vietnamese football. Every contract is a potential corpse, needing only one dishonest tax clause. Here, every ballot is a potential commitment, needing only one vacant seat. I have followed many sports congresses, and each time, the public looks only at the Chairman's seat. Tran Quoc Tuan, the incumbent Chairman, is seeking re-election after 5 years in office. Nguyen Duc Thuy, a construction and banking businessman linked to Saigon Xuan Thanh from 2026-2026 and Ninh Binh from 2026, is presented as a new force. Nguyen Xuan Vu, the incumbent Vice Chairman for communications, born in 2026, is the youngest in the group. Three names, three generations, three approaches. But the transfer market operates through silence, not shouting. Those who listen win. Among the 8 Vice Chairman candidates, there is one seat I consider more important than the Chairman's chair: the Vice Chairman for Finance and Sponsorship. The two candidates for this seat are Nguyen Xuan Vu and Nguyen Duc Thuy. This is the real race. Look at the profiles. Nguyen Xuan Vu is a long-standing bank board member, described as having extensive cross-sector relationships, and currently holds the Vice Chairman for communications and external relations in term 9. He is also Chairman of the Vietnam Table Tennis Federation, a rare multi-sport profile in a football federation. Nguyen Duc Thuy is a construction and banking businessman who has been involved in football twice: Saigon Xuan Thanh 2026-2026, a club that dissolved, and Ninh Binh from 2026. At the start of the 2026-2026 season, he transferred the Ninh Binh club chairmanship to his daughter Nguyen Ngoc My Anh. That move is a strong signal. Among businessmen in football, transferring assets to family members before entering public office is a common way to clear the path and avoid conflict-of-interest challenges. If Thuy truly believes he will win a seat on the VFF Executive Committee, he must separate himself from club ownership before the congress. He has done so. No one remembers the handshake. They only remember the moment the other hand was withdrawn midway. But there is one point I cannot ignore. Saigon Xuan Thanh, the club Thuy was once associated with, dissolved. That is a stain on his football management record that the published candidate list does not evaluate. Can a man who witnessed his own club collapse be trusted to lead the finances of the entire football system? That question has no answer in the candidate list. Another notable point: the rule that each candidate may run for only one position. Tran Quoc Tuan is nominated for both Chairman and Vice Chairman for professional affairs. Nguyen Xuan Vu is nominated for Chairman, Vice Chairman for Finance, and Vice Chairman for Communications. The one-position rule forces them to choose, but no one specifies when or how they choose. This is a procedural gap that could delay the congress. The tax shock that year did not kill the contract; it killed trust in numbers printed beautifully. Here, the worrying numbers are not 3, 8, or 31, but the 57 member organizations, the actual secret-ballot voters. The article does not analyze the geographic or club-tier distribution of these 57 organizations. That is the most important variable for predicting the outcome, and it is left blank. I once saw a deal collapse in six hours, before the world could turn on its phone. In Vietnamese football, federation congresses are often decided by bloc voting among provincial clubs and local federations, not by media narratives. The article profiles individuals but may underestimate bloc dynamics. 12 V.League representatives, 5 First Division representatives, and 1 Second Division representative on the Executive Committee list show that club interests will dominate every federation decision, possibly at the expense of national team and grassroots interests. Another detail: two female candidates, Nguyen Thi My Dung and Bui Thi Hien Luong. Ms. Dung is a member of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, a notable international credential. Her presence on the Executive Committee could strengthen Vietnam's standing in international football governance. On the technical side, the Vice Chairman for professional affairs has three candidates: Tran Anh Tu, Tran Quoc Tuan, and Tran Huy Duc. Tran Anh Tu holds this seat in term 9 and is also Chairman of the VPF Board of Directors, the entity organizing professional tournaments. Holding both roles is a structural conflict of interest: the person setting the rules for clubs is also running the clubs' league. If the reform faction wins, this structure could be challenged. Tran Quoc Tuan has the greatest advantage in international positions: AFF, AFC, and FIFA committees. These are seats a new chairman would lose if he is not re-elected. In modern football, international seats are not honors but negotiating power over schedules, referees, and broadcast rights. So where is the blind spot in the official story? The article claims Nguyen Duc Thuy enjoys considerable support, but there are no voting figures, no bloc analysis, no named spokesperson. That is the author's opinion, not data. And the candidate list is still incomplete: as of October 21, some member organizations had not submitted nomination documents. The 3/8/31 numbers may change. The state vetting process by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is the least transparent step in the entire election cycle. This is the gate that can override member-organization nominations. If a candidate is rejected, the congress could be postponed beyond January 2027. The most dangerous thing is not a bad contract, but a contract that makes you believe it is too good to check. The VFF term 10 candidate list looks tidy at 3/8/31, but beneath it are unanswered questions: who controls the sponsorship money flow, who decides the national team's technical direction, and whether the 57 member organizations will truly vote by profile or by bloc. The Juventus wage crisis taught me that a payroll is not a number but a broken oath. At VFF, the candidate list is not a commitment but an unverified promise. Modern football does not belong to players but to the fastest reader of the balance sheet. And in this race, the fastest reader of VFF's balance sheet will decide where the next four years of term 10 will go.