On January 31, Coach Park Hang-seo will officially expire his contract with VFF. However, after the AFF Cup 2022 ended, the Korean strategist officially said goodbye to Vietnam.
Coach Park Hang-seo’s decision to leave has been announced since October 2022. Therefore, in the past few months, the Vietnam Football Federation has been looking for a replacement. According to many sources, VFF has decided to put its trust in coach Philippe Troussier.
Here are a few things to know about the coaching career of coach Philippe Troussier.
Coach Troussier used to lead Japan at the 2022 World Cup. Photo: Getty.
Pretty illustrious career
A few months after retiring from playing at the Stade de Reims club (France) in 1983, coach Philippe Troussier began to pursue a coaching career when leading a little-known amateur club in his homeland, INF Vichy.
After a year, coach Troussier led CS Alencon club in the French fourth division and spent 3 seasons learning how to manage an amateur football club. In 1987, the military leader born in 19555 returned to the army for the old team Red Star 93 for 2 years.
On June 30, 1989, Troussier was appointed as the interim coach of the French second division club – Creteil until October 1 of the same year.
Leaving Creteil, Troussier went to Ivory Coast to lead ASEC Mimosas club. All 3 seasons here, he helped his team to win the Ivory Coast Championship (Ivory Coast MTN Ligue 1).
In 1993, Troussier was appointed to lead the Ivory Coast national team with the goal of helping “Elephants” win tickets to the 1994 World Cup finals. However, the 67-year-old leader was sacked after Ivory Coast failed to qualify. passed the qualifying round.
Farewell to the Ivory Coast team, coach Troussier led a series of other clubs and national teams such as Kaizer Chiefs (1994), FUS Rabat (1995-1997), Olympique de Marseille (2004-2005), FC Ryukyu (2008-2010), Shenzen Ruby (2011-2013), Sfaxien (2014), Hangzhou Greentown (2015) and Nigeria (1997), Burkina Faso (1997-1998), South Africa (1998), Japan (1998-2002), Qatar ( 2003-2004), Morocco (2005).
During this time, coach Troussier could only help FUS Rabat win the Coupe du Trone championship in 1995. In 2000, he helped Japan win the Asian Cup. A year later, he helped “Samurai Blue” win the FIFA Confederations Cup runner-up position.
In the 1998 World Cup, coach Troussier could only help South Africa to third in Group C with 2 points after 3 matches and could not reach the 1/8 round.
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, coach Troussier began to resonate when helping the Japanese Olympic team reach the quarterfinals of men’s football. At the 2002 World Cup at home, coach Troussier helped Japan reach the 1/8 round. This is the best achievement of the team from the land of the rising sun at the biggest football festival on the planet up to that time.
On a personal level, Troussier won the Asia Best Coach award in 2000.
Thus, after 40 years of military career, coach Troussier’s achievements are not really outstanding when compared to his colleagues in Europe or South America. However, “White Witch” still has a much more impressive CV than Coach Park Hang-seo.
Predestined relationship with Vietnamese football
Coach Troussier used to work at PVF and led Vietnam U19. Photo: Getty.
In June 2018, coach Philippe Troussier signed a contract to become the Technical Director of PVF Youth Football Training Center.
Because U19 Vietnam only ranked 3rd in Group B of the 2019 AFF U19 Championship taking place at home, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) decided to bid farewell to coach Hoang Anh Tuan.
Thanks to the help of PVF, VFF has invited coach Philippe Troussier to lead Vietnam U19 since September 2019. During the time “White Witch” was in charge of U19 Vietnam (2019-2021), his salary was still paid by PVF.
In the qualifying round of the AFC U19 Championship 2020 taking place at Thong Nhat Stadium in November 2019, Coach Troussier helped Vietnam U19 win 3-0 against Mongolia thanks to goals from Nguyen Thanh Khoi (64′), Munkhbat (74′ og) and Nguyen Van Tung (79′).
After that, Nguyen Huu Nam (5′, 86′), Do Tan Thanh (28′) and Tran Quoc Dat (32′) took turns to help U19 Vietnam win 4-1 against Guam.
The third match of Group J against Japan U19, U19 Vietnam drew 0-0. With 7 points obtained after 3 matches like Japan U19, U19 Vietnam still had to be second in the group because of the difference (+6 vs +19).
However, U19 Vietnam won tickets to the final round of the 19th Asian Championship 2020 as one of the five best runners-up in the group. However, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the tournament scheduled to take place in Uzbekistan in October 2020 was canceled. Therefore, coach Troussier and his students did not have the opportunity to compete with continental rivals.
While waiting for the 2020 AFC U19 Championship, Coach Troussier actively attended the matches in the V.League, first, second, national U19 and U21 in order to find more talents for U19 Vietnam.
In February 2021, Vingroup transferred the management right of PVF to Van Lang Education Group. Because Van Lang does not have the rich financial potential like Vingroup, they cannot continue to pay a salary of 100,000 USD/month (1.2 million USD/year, equivalent to 30 billion VND) for coach Troussier.
For its part, VFF also negotiated a 3-year contract extension with coach Troussier. Unfortunately, the Vietnam Football Federation cannot pay Troussier twice the salary of Mr. Park just to lead Vietnam U19. For his part, the French strategist is also determined not to lower his income. Therefore, “White Witch” broke up with U19 Vietnam after his contract with VPF ended on May 31, 2021.