V.League: When Numbers Can No Longer Speak - Between the Hunger for 18 Clubs and the Cracks of a Football Ecosystem

There was a moment in Vietnamese football that I cannot forget. It was when Quang Nam withdrew from the league right after successfully avoiding relegation. In the stands, loyal fans were still there, tears streaming down the faces of men who had followed the club since its humble beginnings. The ball rolled, but no one played. A club survived on the pitch but died on paper due to budget. That moment, for me, is a mirror reflecting the entire story that V.League is facing: a league trying to reach for the dream of 18 clubs, while the current clubs cannot even stand firmly on their own two feet.

I have followed V.League for many seasons, from the days I sat in journalism school lecture halls, recording every match with real-time emotion. What I saw was not a league lacking in the number of clubs. It was an ecosystem lacking the most basic pillars: financial sustainability, transparent governance, and a fair competitive environment. And when someone proposes expanding the league to 16 or 18 clubs, I ask myself: are we adding floors to a house whose foundation is already cracked, or are we truly creating a breakthrough for the future?

Context: When big dreams meet small realities

V.League currently has 14 clubs. According to the roadmap set by the Vietnam Football Federation and VPF, the league will move to 16 clubs, and further to 18 clubs, possibly within the 2027 period. Looking at neighboring countries, Thailand has 16 clubs, Indonesia has 18, Malaysia has 12. Further afield, Japan has 20 and South Korea has 12. These numbers are often used as an argument for expansion: if they can do it, why can't we?

But I learned something from the white nights of Russia in 2026, when I first wrote about football with all my heart: the ball is round, but fate is never round. It rolls through the cracks of history. And in Vietnam, that crack is not in the number of clubs. It lies elsewhere.

South Korea has only 12 clubs, but they play 38 matches a season thanks to a split format: 33 main rounds and 5 championship/relegation split rounds. Japan has 20 clubs, playing 38 rounds. Thailand has 16 clubs but only plays 30 rounds. This shows a truth that few mention: the number of clubs does not determine the number of matches or competitive intensity. The format is what can be designed to increase matches without adding clubs. This is an option that policymakers at V.League seem not to have considered, even though it is much cheaper and less risky than expansion.

I sat down with a friend who is a young coach in central Vietnam, someone who has mentored many generations of players from dirt-pitch fields. He told me something I cannot forget: 'Expanding the league is like opening more stores when you haven't paid off the debt on the first one. It only makes sense if you have real additional customers, not customers who come out of curiosity and then leave.'

Core analysis: The arithmetic and the human equation

Let's start with the numbers. A 14-club league with a double round-robin format will have 26 matches. 16 clubs will have 30. 18 clubs will have 34. Adding the National Cup and any play-off fixtures, a club in a 14-club league will play about 30-33 matches per season. This number rises to 38-41 for a club in an 18-club league.

From a player development perspective, this is a strong argument in favor of expansion. Four additional clubs equate to about 100-120 starting squad places, and about 500-700 official match minutes per round available to young players. For a league where academy products are frequently blocked by import-dependent squads, this is an opportunity for young talents to gain real experience. I have witnessed young players from HAGL, PVF, and Viettel sitting on the bench wasting away while their clubs prioritized foreign contracts. That is a waste not only for the individual player but for the entire football ecosystem.

But this is where the story becomes more complex. The core problem of V.League is not the number of clubs, but the number of solvent clubs.

Among the current 14 clubs, at least 3-4 are operating in a state of red alert. Quang Nam withdrew from the league right after avoiding relegation due to budget reasons. Dong A Thanh Hoa nearly collapsed before being rescued by local authorities. Thanh Hoa, SLNA, and Hai Phong are identified as clubs that would struggle to operate without local budgets. And HAGL, considered a model for youth development, has received 2,000 billion VND from one individual over 20 years but has still experienced a decade of decline. The figure of 2,000 billion VND equates to about 76-80 million USD at current exchange rates, or about 3.8-4.0 million USD per year. This is the operating budget level of a mid-table V.League club. It is enough to survive but not enough to grow. And it has produced a decade of decline at HAGL, where even Vietnam's best-regarded academy cannot convert talent into financial strength.

A friend who works as an accountant for a V.League club told me: 'We have no revenue from broadcasting rights. We have no stable sponsorship revenue. We survive on provincial budgets and the generosity of sponsors. That is not a business model. That is a charity model.'

Contrarian angle: Expansion is a step backward

This is the point where I want to take time to dissect, because it goes against conventional intuition. When we talk about league expansion, we usually think of creating more opportunities, more matches, more players. But in the context of V.League, expansion may be a step backward in quality and credibility.

Look at the licensing system. In 2026, two clubs, HAGL and Thanh Hoa, were penalized for failing to meet licensing standards. In 2026, Thanh Hoa and Hai Phong were only granted conditional licenses. This means that among the current 14 clubs, the non-compliance or conditional compliance rate is about 10-15%, or 1.5-2 clubs. If expanded to 18 clubs, with a similar or worse rate, we would have 2-3 additional non-compliant clubs. This pushes the league to a position where the licensing system either becomes unenforceable or forces relegation by administrative decision.

I have followed V.League matches for many years, and I have noticed a worrying pattern. Clubs at the bottom of the table often have tight budgets, deteriorating stadiums, and under-resourced medical departments. When they have to play more matches, injuries increase, squad quality declines, and the result is boring, uncompetitive matches. This is a downward spiral that no one wants to admit.

There is another aspect that few mention: concentration of power. In 2026, the dispute between bau Kien and sponsorship groups linked to bau Hien showed a reality that V.League can be dominated by interest groups owning multiple clubs. When the league expands, the number of independent decision-makers may not increase correspondingly. In fact, it may decrease if interest groups continue to expand their influence. An 18-club league with 5-6 clubs owned by the same group will not be a more competitive league. It will just be a bigger league with the same old problems.

I remember the image of three young British players of African descent - Saka, Sancho, Rashford - subjected to racism after missing penalties in the Euro 2026 final. I wrote the article 'Even Balls Cry' then, and I realized that football is not just a game. It is a mirror reflecting society. In Vietnam, when we expand the league without addressing the root problems, we are creating a distorted mirror. Young players will look at it and see that talent is not enough to succeed. They need luck, connections, a club with money. That is a message I do not want to send to the next generation.

Takeaway: What remains after the numbers

On a weekend evening, I sat in a small coffee shop on Nguyen Du Street, Saigon, watching the flow of people passing by. On the screen, a V.League match was taking place. The stands were sparse. The loyal fans were still singing, but their voices no longer carried as far as before. I asked myself: will expanding to 18 clubs make the stands fuller? Or will it only dilute what remains?

The answer, for me, lies elsewhere. It lies with the young players training on dirt pitches on the outskirts of the city, where there are no spotlights, no sponsorship contracts, but there is passion. It lies with the fans who still come to the stadium even when their club is at the bottom of the table. It lies with young coaches like my friend, who patiently mentor each generation of players.

V.League does not lack clubs. It lacks a sustainable ecosystem. It lacks a fair revenue distribution mechanism. It lacks a seriously enforced licensing system. It lacks decision-makers who prioritize quality over quantity.

If we truly want to expand, let's start by ensuring that every current club can survive without local budgets. Let's start by creating a mechanism for sharing revenue from broadcasting rights and sponsorship. Let's start by designing a competition format that allows teams to play more matches without adding clubs. And let's start by listening to the fans, who have been pouring sweat, tears, and money into following this league.

The ball is still rolling. But it needs a flat pitch, not a pitch full of potholes. And I, as a football writer, will continue to record the moments, not to gloss over or smear, but to remind that behind every number is a person. And behind every person is a story that needs to be told.

The lesson from football is not in the scoreline. It is in how we treat each other after the final whistle. And how V.League treats its smallest, weakest clubs is the measure of the entire football ecosystem's maturity.