Where is the V-League on the map of Asian football? The answer from the dressing room

Saigon, a weekend afternoon without football. I sit in my usual coffee shop, flipping through a yellowed notebook from 2026, when I first started following Saigon FC. 250 days of the season, 34 training sessions, 18 away matches. I remember standing in the corridor of Thong Nhat Stadium, listening to the clatter of studs on concrete, the shouts of players in the dressing room. That is a sound that never appears in Transfermarkt data or AFC rankings. But today, I am not writing about a specific match. I am writing about a bigger question: Where is the V-League on the map of Southeast Asian and Asian football? And the answer, as I often tell my young colleagues, lies not in the flashy numbers on a computer screen, but in what is whispered in the dressing room. The context I am referring to is the 2026-27 season, a period considered by experts as a turning point for Vietnamese football. Four major clubs—Cong An Ha Noi (CAHN), The Cong-Viettel, Ha Noi FC, and Thép Xanh Nam Dinh—are creating a title race considered the most attractive and dramatic in the region. Meanwhile, in Malaysia, Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) almost monopolizes the title; Thailand and Indonesia also have only one or two competing clubs. This balance is the V-League's unique selling point, an entertainment product that no other league in the region possesses. But behind this vibrancy lies a painful reality: the total player value of the V-League is only €49.77 million, the lowest among the four largest Southeast Asian leagues, 44% lower than Indonesia (€89.2 million) and 39% lower than Thailand (€82.23 million). And on the AFC league rankings, Vietnam stands 15th, behind even Singapore (14th), while Thailand is 7th and Malaysia 11th. I remember once, a German scout asked me: "What do you hear from the dressing room?" I replied: "The sound of the future." But that future is stuck between two worlds. Domestically, clubs are spending heavily in the transfer market, creating a vibrant atmosphere. But on the continental stage, the achievements of Vietnamese clubs are very modest. The historical reason has been identified: Vietnamese clubs have never truly focused resources on Asian competitions. This creates a paradox: an attractive domestic league but an underachieving continental entity. This gap between domestic and continental performance, in my view, is not a matter of player quality, but a matter of strategic resource allocation. When clubs only focus on beating domestic rivals, they inadvertently create a kind of 'continental rustiness' when stepping onto the continental stage, where opponents from Thailand, Malaysia, or Australia always play at a different pace and pressure. Delving into the data, I see an interesting story. The low squad value (€49.77 million) is partly due to the restrictive foreign player quota. While Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia use more foreign players, the V-League is more restrictive. This inadvertently drags down squad value, as foreign players often carry the highest transfer prices in Southeast Asian leagues. But it also means domestic players are given more opportunities to develop. However, in the context of the global transfer market, low value means Vietnamese clubs become 'net exporters' of value whenever they sell domestic players, while having to pay a premium to import quality foreign players. The dynamism in the transfer market (noted as very active) in a low-value league creates a dual risk: wage inflation for both domestic and foreign players without a corresponding rise in commercial revenue. I have witnessed too many Vietnamese clubs overspend on a mediocre foreign player just for fear of losing out to Thai or Indonesian rivals—a 'panic premium' as I call it. But there is a notable signal that few people notice. CAHN's victory over Adelaide United in the AFC Champions League Elite qualifier is clear proof: when wealthy Vietnamese clubs truly prioritize the Asian stage, they can achieve results. This shows that continental underperformance is not a quality limit, but a strategic budget choice. If CAHN and The Cong-Viettel (participating in the AFC Champions League 2) have a successful continental campaign in the 2026-27 season, the narrative of a 'rising league' will be rapidly accelerated. Conversely, if they are eliminated in the group stage, a wave of criticism about the league's true competitive level will erupt, despite the fierce competition among the top four domestically. There is a contrarian view I want to offer, a counter-intuitive perspective that I consider important. Many believe that having four title contenders is a sign of league health. But I see a potential danger: this fierce internal competition could lead to 'internal cannibalization.' Clubs might focus their entire budget and tactics on beating domestic rivals, rather than building a squad capable of competing in the AFC. This inadvertently perpetuates the continental gap. The truth is, competitive balance at the top of the table does not automatically translate into continental competence. Thailand's regional dominance is built not only on high squad value but also on consistently strong continental club performances over many years. They have a football ecosystem built to succeed on both fronts, while we are only building half of it. Another blind spot that the media often overlooks is the difference between the domestic narrative and actual results. The V-League's attractiveness is measured by the vibrancy of the transfer market and the balance of the top four teams, not by process metrics like xG or PPDA. This creates an 'inflation' in the media narrative. When I was young, I too was swept up by flashy numbers. But after 36 years in the profession, I have learned that the true value of a league lies in its ability to produce players who can compete on the international stage, not in the number of goals scored in a domestic season. The V-League's absence from the top 105 global leagues (according to Transfermarkt's rankings) is a wake-up call we should not ignore. So, what is the answer to the initial question? The V-League is positioned 'above the rest but below the top four' in Southeast Asia. We have an attractive domestic product, a competitive balance that no other league in the region possesses. But we are missing something crucial: presence and success on the continental stage. The 2026-27 season will be a turning point. If CAHN and The Cong-Viettel can go deep in the AFC, the story of a rising league will become reality. If not, we will remain trapped in the paradox of an attractive league without influence. I am still here, at 52, keeping the beat with my ears. And I still believe that the answer lies not in rankings, but in what the players whisper to each other in the dressing room before every continental match. That is where I hear the sound of the future. And that future—whether it will bear the red flag with a yellow star on the Asian stage—the answer lies in our own hands.