The Vissai Cement Ninh Bình Football Club (Vietnamese: Câu lạc bộ bóng đá Xi măng The Vissai Ninh Bình), simply known as Vissai Ninh Bình or Vissai-NB, was a professional association football club based in Ninh Bình, Vietnam. The club played in the V.League 1 from 2010 to 2014, when they withdrew due to consequences of a match-fixing scandal in the 2014 AFC Cup.

Vissai Ninh Bình
Full nameThe Vissai Cement Ninh Bình Football Club
Founded1978 as Hồ Chí Minh City Police FC
2002 as Đông Á Bank
2005 as Đồng Tâm Long An Paint
2007 as VinaKansai Cement Ninh Bình
Dissolved2014
GroundNinh Bình Stadium
Capacity22,000
ChairmanHoàng Mạnh Trường
2014 (final)V.League 1, 13th (withdrew)

The team played at Ninh Bình Stadium.

History

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Ho Chi Minh City Police

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Vissai-NB's roots can be traced to Ho Chi Minh City Police F.C. (HCMCP, Vietnamese: Công an Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh), owned by the Ho Chi Minh City police department. They won the V.League in 1995 while finishing as runners-up in the 1993–94, 1996, 1999–2000 and 2001–02 seasons.[1] In 1998, the club played a nationally televised friendly match against the semi-professional San Francisco Bay Seals, winning 3–1. The match marked the first time an American soccer team had played in post-war Vietnam.[2] HCMCP's most well-known player is Lê Huỳnh Đức, an important member of the first "golden generation" of the Vietnamese national team and is also considered one of the greatest Vietnamese footballers of all time.[3][4]

Vissai Ninh Bình

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In 2007, after undergoing two renamings and a move to Long An, the club was bought by Hoàng Mạnh Trường's VinaKansai cement company and moved to Ninh Bình, where they won the First Division in 2009. In preparation for the following season, their first in the top flight, Vissai-NB acquired many well-known players, including internationals such as Lê Phước Tứ, Vũ Như Thành and Phạm Văn Quyến. A domestic double followed three years later in the form of the National Cup and Super Cup, qualifying them for the AFC Cup.

Match-fixing scandal

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During the 2014 season, Hoàng Mạnh Trường requested the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and Vietnam Professional Football (VPF) to withdraw Vissai-NB from the league due to 13 of their players' indictment for allegedly fixing a match against Malaysian side Kelantan F.C. in the 2014 AFC Cup, including captain Lê Văn Duyệt as well as internationals Nguyễn Gia Từ, Chu Ngọc Anh and Lê Văn Thắng, who was later cleared of any involvement. The club had played eight league matches and were third from bottom at the time.[5] Following the withdrawal, all of the club's results in the league were declared null and void. However, they continued to play in the AFC Cup until their eventual elimination by Hong Kong's Kitchee SC in the quarter-finals.[6]

Honours

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Domestic

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League

Cup

Performance in AFC competitions

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Season Competition Round Club Home Away
2014 AFC Cup Group stage   South China 1–1 3–1
  Yangon United 3–2 4–1
  Kelantan 4–0 3–2
Round of 16   Churchill Brothers 4–2
Quarter-finals   Kitchee 2–4 1–0

Record as V.League member

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Season Pld Won Draw Lost GF GA GD PTS Final position Notes
2014 V.League 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13th Withdrew
2013 V.League 1 20 4 6 10 23 32 −9 18 10th Qualified for 2014 AFC Cup
2012 V-League 26 10 3 13 40 49 −9 33 8th
2011 V-League 26 11 6 9 37 35 +2 39 4th
2010 V-League 26 8 10 8 33 34 −1 34 11th

References

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  1. ^ Lịch sử Vleague (V-League History) Archived 2011-04-27 at the Wayback Machine. V-League. 2010.
  2. ^ U.S. Semipro Soccer Team Visits Vietnam Archived 2 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Associated Press. February 15, 1998.
  3. ^ "Huỳnh Đức Lê". National-Football-Teams.com. Archived from the original on 25 February 2024.
  4. ^ Le Huynh Duc – the young talented manager Archived 2011-08-15 at the Wayback Machine. Vietnamese Ministry of Culture and Information. August 14, 2009.
  5. ^ "AFC to Monitor Vietnam Match-Fixing Issue". aseanfootball.org. 12 April 2014. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  6. ^ "Ninh Binh Quit V-League but Not AFC Cup". aseanfootball.org. 18 April 2014. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
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