Democratic Republic of Vietnam

1954–1976
Association	Vietnam Football Association
Top scorer	Nguyễn Thế Anh Phan Văn Mỵ Nguyễn Viết Cầu (1)
Home stadium	Various
FIFA code	VNO
First colours Second colours Goalkeeper colours
First international
China 5–3 North Vietnam  (Beijing, China, 4 October 1956)
Last international
North Vietnam 3–2 Cuba  (Hanoi, North Vietnam, 20 September 1970)
Biggest win
North Yemen 0–9 North Vietnam  (Phnom Penh, Cambodia; 15 November 1966)
Biggest defeat
North Vietnam 0–5 Algeria (Hanoi, North Vietnam, 22 November 1959)  North Korea 5–0 North Vietnam  (Pyongyang, North Korea, 22 October 195

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam national football team (Vietnamese: Đội tuyển bóng đá quốc gia Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa) was the national team of the Communist-controlled Democratic Republic of Vietnam (commonly known as North Vietnam) from 1954 to 1976. It existed side by side with a separate South Vietnam team, which represented the Western-aligned southern portion of Vietnam. Unlike South Vietnam (which was a member of both FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation), North Vietnam's lack of diplomatic recognition on the part of many other states prevented it from ever joining either FIFA or the AFC. Due to its lack of membership in major football bodies, North Vietnam never participated in qualification for the FIFA World Cup or the AFC Asian Cup (unlike its southern counterpart, which participated in both). Because of North Vietnam's international isolation, its national team mostly played against other Communist and Communist-sympathizing countries during its relatively short-lived existence.^[1]

The North Vietnam football team ceased to exist with the unification of North and South Vietnam into the newly-created Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976, after the end of the Vietnam War. Even though the North emerged victorious in the war, the current Vietnam national football team is considered a successor to the South Vietnam team (not the North Vietnam team), since unified Vietnam inherited South Vietnam's membership of FIFA and the AFC.^[2]

History

North Vietnam team in 1956

North Vietnam team at the 1966 GANEFO Asia Cup in Cambodia

North Vietnam's first international match was against China in 1956. North Vietnam's head coach, Truong Tan Buu, 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 the North Vietnam football team was not recognized by international federations such as FIFA, the AFC, or the International Olympic Committee, the only international competition it ever took part in was the football tournament of the Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO), whose organizing body was friendlier toward the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. North Vietnam proved to be a relatively strong side in the GANEFO competition, finishing fourth in the 1963 edition and third in the 1966 edition. It also earned third place in the football-only GANEFO event that took place in 1965.^[3]

After Vietnamese reunification, both the North and South Vietnam 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 usually merged with that of South Vietnam, while North Vietnam is most often 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 "VIET NAM DCCH" 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

Competitive record

World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record										FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1950	Not member of FIFA									Not member of FIFA
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
Total	—	0/7	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0

Asian Cup record

AFC Asian Cup record										AFC Asian Cup qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1956	Not member of AFC									Not member of AFC
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
Total	—	0/6	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0

GANEFO

GANEFO record										Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1963	Fourth place	4th	6	3	1	2	22	12		3	1	0	2	4	6
1965	Third place	3rd	5	1	2	2	7	8		No qualification
1966	Third place	3rd	5	2	1	2	16	7
Total	Third place	3/3	16	6	4	6	45	27		3	1	0	2	4	6

Head-to-head records

The list shown below shows the North Vietnam national football team all-time international record against opposing nations.^{[4] [5]}

Key

Opponent	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Algeria	1	0	0	1	0	5	-5
China	6	0	1	5	9	17	-8
Cuba	1	1	0	0	3	2	1
Egypt	1	0	0	1	1	4	-3
Guinea	1	1	0	0	2	1	1
Cambodia	3	1	2	0	6	5	1
Indonesia	2	0	0	2	2	5	-3
Laos	1	1	0	0	9	1	8
Mongolia	1	1	0	0	3	1	2
North Korea	6	0	0	6	2	17	-15
North Yemen	1	1	0	0	9	0	9
Palestine	1	1	0	0	4	0	4
Total	25	7	3	15	44	55	-11

Match results

This is a list of the North Vietnam national football team results.^[6][7]

Results

1956
Date	Opponent	Score*	Venue	Competition	North Vietnam scores
4 October	China	3–5	Xiannongtan Stadium, Beijing (A)	1956 Communist Tournament
10 October	North Korea	0–3	Xiannongtan Stadium, Beijing (A)	1956 Communist Tournament
1959
22 October	North Korea	0–5	Pyongyang, North Korea (A)	1959 Communist Tournament
28 October	China	0–2	Pyongyang, North Korea (A)	1959 Communist Tournament
22 November	Algeria	0–5	North Vietnam (H)	Friendly
1960
3 October	Mongolia	3–1	Hanoi, North Vietnam (H)	1960 Communist Tournament
8 October	North Korea	1–3	Hanoi, North Vietnam (H)	1960 Communist Tournament
11 October	China	3–4	Hanoi, North Vietnam (H)	1960 Communist Tournament
1963
April	China	0–1	Indonesia (A)	1963 GANEFO qualification[8]
April	Cambodia	3–2	Indonesia (A)	1963 GANEFO qualification[9]
April	Indonesia	1–3	Indonesia (A)	1963 GANEFO qualification
November	United Arab Republic	1–4	Indonesia (A)	1963 GANEFO
November	Laos	9–1	Indonesia (A)	1963 GANEFO
November	Chile University	4–2	Indonesia (A)	1963 GANEFO
November	Argentina University	6–1	Indonesia (A)	1963 GANEFO
November	North Korea	0–2	Indonesia (A)	1963 GANEFO
November	Uruguay University	2–2	Indonesia (A)	1963 GANEFO
1965
August	North Korea	0–1	North Korea (A)	1965 GANEFO
August	China	3–3	North Korea (A)	1965 GANEFO
August	Guinea	2–1	North Korea (A)	1965 GANEFO
August	Indonesia	1–2	North Korea (A)	1965 GANEFO
August	Cambodia	1–1	North Korea (A)	1965 GANEFO
1966
August	North Korea	1–3	Cambodia (A)	1966 GANEFO
August	China	0–2	Cambodia (A)	1966 GANEFO
August	Cambodia	2–2	Cambodia (A)	1966 GANEFO
August	Palestine	4–0	Cambodia (A)	1966 GANEFO
15 November	North Yemen	9–0	Cambodia (A)	1966 GANEFO
1970
20 September	Cuba	3–2 [10]	Hanoi, North Vietnam (H)	Friendly	Thế Anh 70', Văn Mỵ 75' (pen.), Viết Cầu 88'

See also

• Football in Vietnam

References