The Democratic Republic of Vietnam national football team () 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 AFC), North Vietnam's lack of diplomatic recognition on the part of many other states initially prevented it from joining either FIFA or the AFC. However, North Vietnam became a member of FIFA in 1964. Despite this, it never participated in qualification for the FIFA World Cup or the AFC Asian Cup, and its international matches were mainly limited to Communist and Communist-sympathizing countries during its relatively short-lived existence.
The North Vietnam football team played its last game in 1974 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 and unified the country, the current Vietnam national football team is considered a successor of both North and South Vietnam teams.
History
Although "North Vietnamese" government was proclaimed in 1945, Vietnam was only divided in 1954 and their first international match was against China in 1956, two years after 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 major international federations such as FIFA (until 1964), 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 (only losing third place to a university team representing Uruguay on a coin toss) and third in the 1966 edition. North Vietnam also earned third place in the football-only GANEFO event that took place in 1965.
After Vietnamese reunification in 1975, both North and South Vietnamese teams were superseded by the Vietnam national football team, which represents the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam.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.
Kit 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.
Head coaches Trương Tấn Bửu (1956–1957) Anatoly Akimov (1958–1960) (1962–1963) (1965–1966) Nguyễn Thành Đô (1966–196?) Nguyễn Văn Quý (Unknown) Nguyễn Văn Đinh (Unknown)
Competitive record World Cup record
FIFA World Cup recordFIFA World Cup qualification recordYearRoundPosition** 1950Not member of FIFANot member of FIFA 1954 1958 1962 1966Did not participateDid not participate 1970 1974Total—0/7000000000000
Asian Cup record
AFC Asian Cup recordAFC Asian Cup qualification recordYearRoundPosition** 1956Not member of AFCNot member of AFC 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976Total—0/6000000000000
GANEFO
GANEFO recordQualification recordYearRoundPosition** 1963Fourth place4th63122212310246 1965Third place3rd512278No qualification 1966Third place3rd5212167TotalThird place3/3166464527310246
Match results
Head-to-head record
The list shown below shows the North Vietnam national football team all-time international record against opposing teams. Key
OpponentConfederation Algeria1 0 01 0 5 -5 CAF 1 0 10 1 1 0 AFC10 4 4 2 16 13 +3 AFC7 0 2 5 12 20 -8 AFC2 1 1 03 2 +1 CONCACAF1 1 0 02 11 CAF2 0 02 2 5-3 AFC1 1 00 9 1+8 AFC Moldova1 0 10 0 0 0 UEFA1 1 0 03 1+2 AFC6 0 06 2 17-15 AFC1 1 0 09 0+9 AFC 1 1 0 04 0+4 AFC Russia1 0 01 0 4-4 UEFA1 0 01 1 4 -3 CAFTotal37 109186474 -10
Honours GANEFO Third place (2): 1965, 1966 Fourth place (1): 1963
See also Football in Vietnam
References