Hue FC
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| Full name | Hue Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Đội Bóng Cố đô (Ancient capital club) | ||
| Founded | 1976 | ||
| Ground | Tự Do Stadium | ||
| Capacity | 25,000 | ||
| Chairman | Đoàn Phùng | ||
| Manager | Lê Chí Nguyện | ||
| League | V.League 2 | ||
| 2026 | Vietnamese Second Division, 2nd of 7 (Group A, promoted) | ||
| Website | www.facebook.com | ||
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Hue Football Club (Vietnamese: Câu lạc bộ bóng đá Huế), is a Vietnamese football club based in Huế. The club's home stadium is Tự Do Stadium. The club will compete in the 2026–27 V.League 2, after winning the promotion play-offs game in the Vietnamese Second Division.
History
[edit]It is uncertain when football arrived at Huế. According to some remaining records, football matches were organized in Huế in the 1920s. The place where matches often took place between French soldiers' teams and Vietnamese teams in Huế was the "Sép" stadium, right on the north bank of the Hương River, next to Đông Ba Market.
In the Indochina and Central Vietnam football leagues, the team, with a core of Huế players, finished as runners-up three times in 1941, 1943, and 1944. Longtime football fans in Huế still often mention the famous names of Huế football players before the Revolution, such as: Bửu Phấn, Bửu Bàng, Tư Ếch, Minh, Hưởng, Tiền, Tốt... and the two famous players Nguyễn Hữu Tường and Nguyễn Hữu Hồ, who played for the Indochina national team.
After 1975, the Bình Trị Thiên team, the predecessor of the current Thừa Thiên Huế team, was established and participated in the Trường Sơn football league until 1979. After the establishment of National A1 League, the team played in the B division (equivalent to the current Second Division) due to economic difficulties and a lack of players. It was not until 1993, after many mergers and consolidations, that Thừa Thiên Huế players were promoted to the top tier.
The 1995 season was the most memorable in the history of the ancient capital's football. The Thừa Thiên Huế team, with players like Công Quốc, Đình Tuấn, Sỹ Hùng, and a series of other key players like Quý Tâm Anh, Quốc Dân, Quang Sang, Đức Dũng... led by coach Ninh Văn Bảo, unexpectedly made history with the runners-up title, after defeating famous teams such as Lâm Đồng, An Giang, Cảng Sài Gòn, before losing to Công An Hồ Chí Minh City in the final. However, the very next season, the Thừa Thiên Huế players were relegated.[1]
In the 1998 season, the Thừa Thiên Huế team, under coach Nguyễn Đình Thọ, regained the right to play in the First Division after winning the promotion play-off matches against Hải Quan.[2] In the 2002 season, Huda Huế under coach Đoàn Phùng was relegated from the V-League after losing a play-off match against Hà Nội ACB at Vinh Stadium. After 4 years playing in the First Division, in the 2007 season, Huda Huế returned to the V-League arena after a thrilling penalty shootout victory against Hải Phòng in the play-off match. It wa noteworthy that the promoted Huda Huế team that year mainly consisted of U20 players who had matured after the National Phù Đổng Health Festival in Huế in 2004. Just one year later, due to insufficient investment, Huda Huế returned to play in the First Division until the 2011 season, when the team was relegated again to the Second Division.
After being relegated to the Second Division, the club also faced many financial difficulties when the sponsor Huda Beer officially withdrew. In that situation, the team's leadership decided to completely renew the team with the determination to get promoted to the First Division. First, they adopted the name Huế Football Club, without a sponsor's name. Then, they renewed the squad by promoting players who had won the gold medal at the 2004 Phù Đổng Health Festival and the 2006 National U-13 Football Championship for Huế, such as: Minh Hoàng, Công Nhật, Ngọc Mười, Đức Phát, Võ Lỹ,... plus key players including Tuấn Tú, Trọng Trung, Khoa Nhật, Hữu Quang, Hữu Vân... And that change brought good results: in the 2013 season, Huế won the Second Division and returned to the First Division.
At the end of the 2014 V.League 2 season, the young squad of coach Nguyễn Đức Dũng finished 5th out of 8 participating teams. In 2014, the team also represented Vietnamese football at the 2014 Mekong Region Games in Thailand and excellently won the championship. In December, the whole team won the silver medal in Men's Football at the 2014 Vietnamese National Games after a 0-4 loss to Sông Lam Nghệ An in the final.
In the 2019 season, with the participation of young players Trần Danh Trung, Nguyễn Hữu Thắng,... Huế finished 5th with 9 wins, 2 draws, and 11 losses.
Stadium
[edit]The home ground of Huế is Tự Do Stadium. It is a stadium located in Thuận Hóa ward, Huế, Vietnam, with a capacity of about 25,000 seats. Tự Do Stadium was built by the French around the early 1930s and named Stade Olympique de Hué. Later, the Nguyễn Dynasty renamed the stadium Bảo Long Stadium (Bảo Long was the crown prince of King Bảo Đại and Queen Nam Phương).
Kits and sponsors
[edit]| Period | Kit supplier | Shirt sponsor (chest) | Shirt sponsor (back) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000/01 |  Adidas (T-1) |
Highlands Coffee (league-wide V-League) Pepsi (league-wide National Cup) Tiger Beer (domestic-wide) |
SyncMaster (domestic-wide) |
| 2001/02 | Strata (league-wide V-League) Samsung (league-wide National Cup) Tiger Beer (domestic-wide) | ||
| 2019–2022 | Adidas (K) |
Bamboo Airways (National Cup 2020) | |
| 2023-2024 |  VNASPORTS (T) |
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| 2024- | CR SPORT (T) [3] |
Note: (K): Information about sponsorship unknown/Team purchased kits themselves; (T): Sponsored; (T-1): In the 2000–2002 period, the entire domestic league system (including the Professional V-League and National Cup) was sponsored by Adidas.
Players
[edit]Current squad
[edit]As of 23 March 2026[4]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Notable former players
[edit]Coaching staff
[edit]| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Lê Chí Nguyện |
| Assistant coach | Nguyễn Hoàng Linh |
| Nguyễn Văn Chiến | |
| Goalkeeping coach | Nguyễn Văn Dũng |
| Technical director | Nguyễn Đức Dũng |
| Manager | Trần Quang Sang |
Managerial history
[edit]- Managers with this background and italics are caretaker appointments.
| Name | Period |
|---|---|
| Nguyễn Hồng Vinh | 1993–1995 |
| Ninh Văn Bảo | 1995–1996 |
| Nguyễn Đình Thọ | 1998–2001 |
| Đoàn Phùng | 2001–2003 |
| Nguyễn Đình Thọ | 2003–2004 |
| Nguyễn Kim Hằng | 2004–2005 |
| Đoàn Phùng | 2006–2007 |
| Trần Quang Sang | 2008 |
| Đoàn Phùng | 2008–2010 |
| Nguyễn Đức Dũng | 2011–2018 |
| Phan Văn Trí | 2019 |
| Nguyễn Đức Dũng | 2019–2025 |
| Lê Chí Nguyện | 2026–present |
Honours
[edit]- League
Runners-up : 1995
Winners : 2013- Cup
- Runners-up : 2002
Season-by-season record
[edit]| Key | |
|---|---|
| Champions | |
| Runners-up | |
| Third place | |
| Fourth place | |
| Promoted | |
| Relegation play-off | Won play-off |
| Lost play-off | |
| Relegated | |
| Performance of Hue FC from 1995 to present | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Division | Position | Pld | W | D[a] | L | GF | GA | Pts | |||
| I | II | III | IV | |||||||||
| 1995 | Runners-up | 18 | 10 | –[b] | 8 | 19 | 20 | 20 | ||||
| 1996 | 11th | 22 | 3 | 9 | 10 | 20 | 33 | 18 | ||||
| 1997 | Unknown | Specific records unknown | ||||||||||
| 1998 | Joint 3rd | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 10 | ||||
| 1999 | 4th in Group B[c] | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 8 | ||||
| 1999–00 | 7th | 24 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 30 | 29 | 32 | ||||
| 2000–01 | 8th | 18 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 16 | 21 | 23 | ||||
| 2001–02 | 9th | 18 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 17 | 24 | 21 | ||||
| 2003 | 4th | 22 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 24 | 16 | 34 | ||||
| 2004 | 3rd | 22 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 33 | 14 | 45 | ||||
| 2005 | 5th | 22 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 28 | 27 | 32 | ||||
| 2006 | 3rd | 26 | 9 | 12 | 5 | 34 | 28 | 39 | ||||
| 2007 | 13th | 26 | 4 | 8 | 14 | 25 | 44 | 20 | ||||
| 2008 | 6th | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 40 | 35 | 37 | ||||
| 2009 | 5th | 24 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 21 | 16 | 34 | ||||
| 2010 | 11th | 24 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 27 | 38 | 27 | ||||
| 2011 | 14th | 26 | 4 | 8 | 14 | 31 | 51 | 20 | ||||
| 2012 | Joint 3rd | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 17 | ||||
| 2013 | Champions | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 4 | 22 | ||||
| 2014 | 5th | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 16 | 19 | ||||
| 2015 | 2nd | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 16 | 10 | 24 | ||||
| 2016 | 7th | 18 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 29 | 26 | 22 | ||||
| 2017 | 2nd | 12 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 21 | 10 | 20 | ||||
| 2018 | 7th | 18 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 26 | 31 | 20 | ||||
| 2019 | 6th | 22 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 33 | 36 | 29 | ||||
| 2020 | 9th | 16 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 19 | 18 | ||||
| 2021 | Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | |||||||||||
| 2022 | 7th | 22 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 20 | 31 | 25 | ||||
| 2023 | 6th | 18 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 19 | 19 | 21 | ||||
| 2023–24 | 4th | 20 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 26 | 22 | 30 | ||||
| 2024–25 | 11th | 20 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 30 | 16 | ||||
Notes
[edit]- ↑ Except for the 1995 season, a match decided by a penalty shoot-out was counted as a draw.
- ↑ According to the format of this season, all drawn matches had to be decided by a penalty shoot-out.
- ↑ In 1999, the national championship was not held, only the Spring Training Tournament was organized.
References
[edit]- ↑ "Một phiên bản của Huế 1995? (A version of Hue 1995?)". Nhân Dân Newspaper (in Vietnamese). 2007-06-11.
- ↑ "Huda Huế: Hạng Nhất đang gọi (Huda Hue: First Division is calling)". Nhân Dân Newspaper (in Vietnamese). 2007-06-20.
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid08YBH5i5jiQKnRKLTm7sDebZvadTjEH8e8UYfMXMMpoJQaaaavNqQdFEEDmXdR6TEl&id=100063572254020&rdid=UVRTrNsJg5R1cAnf
- ↑ Huế FC