Another club withdraw from V. League 2 due to budget constraints

The fixture for 2021 V. League 2 was announced Tuesday with the participation of 13 clubs instead of 14, with Tay Ninh having officially withdrawn from the championship.

The main reason for their decision stems from financial problems. According to Vietnamese football regulations, a club competing in V. League 2 must maintain an operating budget of VND15 billion ($651,300) and in V. League 1, VND35 billion. Tay Ninh get VND10 billion per annum from an enterprise, which has been their main sponsor for the past 15 years. The remaining VND5 billion comes from other sponsors.

However, Tay Ninh Province People’s Committee failed to seek sponsors this year, resulting in a financial shortage at the club. Tay Ninh has only scraped together VND10 billion in total, making them noneligible for V. League 2.

Tay Ninh Province has also decided to dissolve the club due to their financial problems. According to Nguyen Thanh Son, director of Tay Ninh Football JSC, the average annual budget of the club is around VND15-16 billion. Although playing in V. League 2, they have no promotion target due to financial limitations.

After withdrawing from the championship, Tay Ninh have allowed their players and head coach to move to other clubs.

In December last year, Gia Dinh FC chose to remain in the third division after being promoted to V. League 2, citing failure to meet stadium and youth training requirements. Another team from the third division, Cong An Nhan Dan, were promoted instead.

V. League 2 is expected to take place from March 20 to Sept. 18. In the first half of the league, 13 clubs will play in a round-robin basis as per usual. In the second half, the top seven teams would battle for the title and promotion while the bottom six fight to avoid relegation.

The winner of V. League 2 will receive VND1 billion while the runner-up and third-placed club get VND500 million and 250 million, respectively.