2020 V.League 1

LS V.League 1 - 2020
Season	2020
Dates	7 March – 8 November
Champions	Viettel; 1st VL1 title; 6th Vietnamese title
Relegated	Quang Nam
Matches played	126
Goals scored	319 (2.53 per match)
Top goalscorer	Pedro Paulo; Rimario Gordon; (12 goals)
Biggest home win	Becamex Binh Duong 5–0 Haiphong; (11 June 2020); SHB Da Nang 6–1 Quang Nam; (11 June 2020)
Biggest away win	Hoang Anh Gia Lai 0–4 Hanoi; (15 October 2020)
Highest scoring	SHB Da Nang 6–1 Quang Nam; (11 June 2020); Hoang Anh Gia Lai 5–2 Ho Chi Minh City; (1 October 2020)
Longest winning run	4 matches; Hanoi; Saigon; Viettel
Longest unbeaten run	11 matches; Hanoi; Saigon
Longest winless run	7 matches; Quang Nam
Longest losing run	6 matches; Hoang Anh Gia Lai
Highest attendance	20,000 ; Hong Linh Ha Tinh 1–1 Hanoi ; (12 June 2020)
Lowest attendance	0
Total attendance	689,400
Average attendance	6,693
	← 2019 2021 → All statistics correct as of complete.

The 2020 V.League 1 season (or LS V.League 1 2020 for sponsorship reasons)^[1] was the 64th season of the V.League 1, the highest division of Football in Vietnam.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the schedule had been changed to begin on 7 March instead of 21 February as originally planned.^[2] All matches in matchdays 1 and 2 were played behind closed doors due to the same reason. Following the stabilizing situation, the league resumed in June, and also became the first league to allow fans into the stadium post-COVID-19 outbreak.^[3] On 26 July 2020, the league was suspended again due to another surge in COVID-19 cases.^[4]

Changes from last season

Team changes

The following teams have changed division since the 2019 season.

To V.League 1

Promoted from V.League 2

Hong Linh Ha Tinh^[5]

From V.League 1

Relegated to V.League 2

Sanna Khanh Hoa BVN^[6]

Rules changes

In the 2020 season, each team could register 3+1 foreign players (3 foreign + 1 naturalized Vietnamese). The teams that participated in ASEAN Club Championship and AFC Cup (Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Than Quang Ninh) could register 3+1+1 foreign players (3 foreign + 1 naturalized Vietnamese + 1 AFC player)

On 13 May 2020, the format had been slightly changed, including:

The 1st leg will remain unchanged.
After the 1st leg, teams will be split into 2 groups:
- Championship group (Group A) will include the top 8 teams in the 1st leg.
- Relegation group (Group B) will include the bottom 6 teams in the 1st leg.
Each group will play another single round-robin format. After the end of season:
- The champions will qualify for the 2021 AFC Champions League group stage.
- The runners-up and the cup winners, Hanoi (or the league 3rd-placers if Hanoi qualified for AFC Club Competitions through league performance) will qualify for the 2021 AFC Cup group stage.
- The 14th-ranked team will be relegated to 2021 V.League 2. There's no relegation playoff for this season. and the 13th-ranked team will stay in V.League 1 2021.

Teams

Locations of the 2020 V.League 1 teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Previous season rank
Becamex Binh Duong	Binh Duong	Go Dau	13,035	VL1 (4th)
SHB Danang	Danang	Hoa Xuan	20,000	VL1 (10th)
Hoang Anh Gia Lai	Gia Lai	Pleiku	12,000	VL1 (8th)
Haiphong FC	Haiphong	Lach Tray	25,000	VL1 (12th)
Hanoi FC	Hanoi	Hang Day	22,500	VL1 (1st)
Viettel	Hanoi	Hang Day	22,500	VL1 (6th)
Hong Linh Ha Tinh	Ha Tinh	Ha Tinh	20,000	VL2 (1st)
Ho Chi Minh City FC	Ho Chi Minh City	Thong Nhat	16,000	VL1 (2nd)
Saigon FC	Ho Chi Minh City	Thong Nhat	16,000	VL1 (5th)
Nam Dinh FC	Nam Dinh	Thien Truong	30,000	VL1 (11th)
Song Lam Nghe An	Nghe An	Vinh	18,000	VL1 (7th)
Quang Nam	Quang Nam	Tam Ky	15,000	VL1 (9th)
Than Quang Ninh	Quang Ninh	Cam Pha	20,000	VL1 (3rd)
Dong A Thanh Hoa	Thanh Hoa	Thanh Hoa	12,000	VL1 (13th)

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer
Becamex Binh Duong	Nguyen Thanh Son	Tô Văn Vũ	Kamito
SHB Danang	Lê Huỳnh Đức	Hà Đức Chinh	Kamito
Hoang Anh Gia Lai	Duong Minh Ninh Nguyen Van Dan	Nguyễn Tuấn Anh	Mizuno
Haiphong FC	Phạm Anh Tuan	Doan Ngoc Tan	Jogarbola
Hanoi	Chu Đình Nghiêm	Nguyễn Văn Quyết	Kappa
Viettel	Truong Viet Hoang	Bùi Tiến Dũng	FBT
Hong Linh Ha Tinh	Phạm Minh Đức	Lê Tấn Tài	Kelme
Ho Chi Minh City FC	Jung Hae-Seong	Trần Phi Sơn	Kappa
Saigon	Vu Tien Thanh	Nguyễn Ngọc Duy	Zaicro
Duoc Nam Ha Nam Dinh	Pham Hong Phu	Đinh Xuân Việt	Kelme
Song Lam Nghe An	Ngo Quang Truong	Hoàng Văn Khánh	Mitre
Quang Nam FC	Dao Quang Hung	Đinh Thanh Trung	Jogarbola
Than Quang Ninh	Phan Thanh Hùng	Huỳnh Tuấn Linh	Joma
Thanh Hoa	Mai Xuân Hợp	Lê Văn Thắng	Jogarbola

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Becamex Binh Duong	Nguyen Thanh Son	Interim over	24 October 2019	Pre-season	Carlos Oliveira	27 November 2019
Haiphong FC	Truong Viet Hoang	Resigned	24 October 2019		Pham Anh Tuan	16 November 2019
Saigon FC	Nguyen Thanh Cong	Resigned	24 October 2019		Hoang Van Phuc	22 November 2019
Thanh Hoa FC	Mai Xuan Hop	Interim over	24 October 2019		Fabio Lopez	22 November 2019
Viettel	Nguyen Hai Bien	Interim over	24 October 2019		Truong Viet Hoang	12 November 2019
Song Lam Nghe An	Nguyen Duc Thang	Promoted to Technical Director	16 December 2019		Ngo Quang Truong	16 December 2019
Becamex Binh Duong	Carlos Oliveira	Sacked	16 February 2020		Nguyen Thanh Son	16 February 2020
Saigon FC	Hoang Van Phuc	Resigned	13 March 2020	8th	Vu Tien Thanh	13 March 2020
Thanh Hoa FC	Fabio Lopez	Sacked	8 June 2020	13th	Nguyen Thanh Cong	9 June 2020
Duoc Nam Ha Nam Dinh	Nguyen Van Sy	Promoted to Technical Director	24 June 2020	14th	Pham Hong Phu	24 June 2020
Quang Nam FC	Vu Hong Viet	Resigned	29 June 2020	13th	Dao Quang Hung	29 June 2020
Ho Chi Minh City FC	Jung Hae-Seong	Resigned	25 July 2020	5th	Nguyen Huu Thang	25 July 2020
Ho Chi Minh City FC	Nguyen Huu Thang	Redeployed	25 July 2020	5th	Jung Hae-Seong	13 August 2020
Thanh Hoa FC	Nguyen Thanh Cong	Resigned	11 September 2020	8th	Mai Xuan Hop	12 September 2020
Hoang Anh Gia Lai	Lee Tae-hoon	Promoted to Technical Director	28 September 2020	7th	Duong Minh Ninh Nguyen Van Dan	28 September 2020
Quang Nam FC	Dao Quang Hung	Sacked	12 October 2020	14th	Nguyen Thanh Cong	12 October 2020

Foreign players

Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 5 (Naturalized Vietnamese player)	Former Player
Becamex Binh Duong	Hedipo Gustavo	Ali Rabo	Youssouf Touré	→ Suleiman Abdullahi
SHB Da Nang	Igor Jelić	Grace Tanda	Ismahil Akinade		Philippe Nsiah
Hoang Anh Gia Lai	Chevaughn Walsh	Kester Oahimijie	Damir Memović
Haiphong	Diego	Andre Fagan	Joseph Mpande	→ Adriano Schmidt¹ → Andrey Nguyen ¹ → Martin Lo¹	Claudecir Junior
Hanoi	Rimario Gordon	Pape Omar Faye	Moses Oloya		Papa Ibou Kébé
Viettel	Bruno Cantanhede	Caíque	Luizão
Hong Linh Ha Tinh	Bruno Henrique	Janclesio	Victor Mansaray		Pina
Ho Chi Minh City	Papé Diakité	José Guillermo Ortiz	Ariel Francisco Rodríguez		Viktor Prodell Alex Lima Amido Baldé Seo Yong Duk
Saigon	Geovane	Pedro Paulo	Ahn Byung-keon
Duoc Nam Ha Nam Dinh	Rafaelson	Thiago Papel	Emmanuel Agbaji	→ Gastón Merlo	Valentin Zoungrana
Song Lam Nghe An	Gustavo	Felipe Martins	Peter Onyekachi		Alagie Sosseh
Quang Nam	Rodrigo Dias	Zé Paulo	Papa Ibou Kébé	→ Dio Preye	Lucas Rocha
Than Quang Ninh	Claudecir Junior	Jermie Lynch	Neven Laštro	→ Geoffrey Kizito	Andre Fagan
Thanh Hoa	Louis Ewonde	Aimé Gassissou	Josip Balić	→ Samson Kayode	Grace Tanda Philippe Nsiah

^1 Naturalized players whose parents or grandparents were born in Vietnam, thus are regarded as local players.

Phase 1 League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saigon	13	6	6	1	19	7	+12	24	Qualified to Championship group
2	Viettel	13	6	4	3	20	15	+5	22
3	Than Quang Ninh	13	6	3	4	17	16	+1	21
4	Hanoi	13	5	5	3	20	13	+7	20
5	Ho Chi Minh City	13	6	2	5	23	17	+6	20
6	Becamex Binh Duong	13	5	5	3	17	11	+6	20
7	Hoang Anh Gia Lai	13	5	5	3	17	16	+1	20
8	Hong Linh Ha Tinh	13	4	6	3	14	12	+2	18

9	SHB Da Nang	13	4	4	5	19	15	+4	16	Qualified to Relegation group
10	Thanh Hoa	13	4	3	6	9	14	−5	15
11	Song Lam Nghe An	13	4	3	6	10	16	−6	15
12	Duoc Nam Ha Nam Dinh	13	4	1	8	14	23	−9	13
13	Haiphong	13	3	4	6	8	17	−9	13
14	Quang Nam	13	2	3	8	17	32	−15	9

Updated to match(es) played on 1 October 2020. Source: VPF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Disciplinary points; 5) Play-off (Only to decide champions, runners-up, third placed and relegation spots); 6) Drawing of lots (Criteria 2 to 5 only applies after the conclusion of round 13)

Phase 2 League Table

Championship Group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Viettel (C)	20	12	5	3	29	16	+13	41	Qualification for AFC Champions League Group stage
2	Hanoi^[a] (Q)	20	11	6	3	37	16	+21	39	Qualification for AFC Cup Group stage
3	Saigon (Q)	20	9	7	4	30	19	+11	34	Qualification for AFC Cup Group stage
4	Than Quang Ninh	20	9	4	7	27	26	+1	31
5	Ho Chi Minh City	20	8	4	8	29	25	+4	28
6	Becamex Binh Duong	20	7	7	6	25	21	+4	28
7	Hoang Anh Gia Lai	20	6	5	9	27	36	−9	23
8	Hong Linh Ha Tinh	20	4	8	8	19	24	−5	20

Updated to match(es) played on 8 November 2020. Source: VPF
(C) Champion; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated
Notes:

^ Hanoi FC is qualified for the 2021 AFC Cup Group stage as 2020 Vietnamese Cup winners.

Relegation Group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation
9	SHB Da Nang	18	5	8	5	26	22	+4	23
10	Song Lam Nghe An	18	6	5	7	17	21	−4	23
11	Thanh Hoa	18	5	6	7	16	22	−6	21
12	Haiphong	18	5	4	9	15	25	−10	19
13	Duoc Nam Ha Nam Dinh	18	5	3	10	19	30	−11	18
14	Quang Nam (R)	18	5	3	10	28	41	−13	18	Relegation to V.League 2

Updated to match(es) played on 31 October 2020. Source: VPF
(R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	BBD	NDI	HAN	HPG	HAG	HHT	QNA	SGN	DNG	SLN	TQN	THH	HCM	VTL
Becamex Binh Duong			0–2	5–0	1–1			3–1	1–0			0–1		2–0
Duoc Nam Ha Nam Dinh	1–1			0–2		2–1	1–0		1–0	3–0				1–2
Hanoi		4–2		1–0	3–0			0–1		0–1		1–1	2–0
Haiphong					0–0	1–1	1–1	0–2		3–1	0–1		0–0
Hoang Anh Gia Lai		1–0				1–0	3–1	1–1			1–0		5–2
Hong Linh Ha Tinh	1–1		1–1				3–2		0–0				1–0	0–1
Quang Nam	1–2		2–2					3–3		2–1		2–1	1–3	0–3
Saigon	0–0	3–0				1–1				0–0	0–0	3–0
SHB Da Nang			1–1	1–0	3–1		6–1	1–4			1–2
Song Lam Nghe An	1–0				2–0	1–1			1–0				1–3	1–2
Than Quang Ninh	2–2	3–2	3–1			0–2	3–1			2–0			0–3
Thanh Hoa		1–0		0–1	0–0	1–2			0–3	0–0	2–0
Ho Chi Minh City	1–2	5–1	0–3					0–1	2–2			1–0		3–0
Viettel			1–1	4–0	3–3			1–0	1–1		1–1	1–2

Updated to match(es) played on 24 July 2020. Source: Vietnam Professional Football
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Positions by round

This table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve the chronological evolution, any postponed matches are not included to the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Team ╲ Round
Saigon	7	2	5	1	4	5	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Viettel	4	4	2	2	5	7	4	5	3	2	2	2	2
Than Quang Ninh	11	7	11	10	8	6	8	4	5	5	3	4	3
Hanoi	1	8	4	5	7	3	6	8	8	6	4	5	4
Ho Chi Minh City	2	1	1	6	3	1	1	2	2	3	5	3	5
Becamex BInh DUOng	5	9	7	4	2	4	3	3	4	7	7	6	6
Hoang Anh Gia Lai	6	3	9	7	6	8	9	6	6	4	6	7	7
Hong Linh Ha Tinh	9	12	10	9	9	12	12	12	13	11	10	9	8
SHB Da Nang	10	14	14	12	11	10	11	7	7	9	9	8	9
Thanh Hoa	12	13	13	14	12	11	7	10	10	8	8	11	10
Song Lam Nghe An	8	6	3	3	1	2	5	9	9	10	11	10	11
Duoc Nam Ha Nam Dinh	13	10	12	13	14	14	13	14	11	12	12	12	12
Haiphong	3	5	6	8	10	9	10	11	12	13	13	13	13
Quang Nam	14	11	8	11	13	13	14	13	14	14	14	14	14

	Championship Round
	Relegation Round

Updated to match(es) played on 1 October 2020. Source: Table by round (in Vietnamese)

Championship round

Team ╲ Round	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Team ╲ Round
Viettel	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Hanoi	4	3	2	2	3	2	2
Saigon	1	2	3	3	2	3	3
Than Quang Ninh	3	4	4	4	4	4	4
Ho Chi Minh City	5	6	6	6	5	5	5
Becamex Binh Duong	6	5	5	5	6	6	6
Hoang Anh Gia Lai	7	7	7	7	8	8	7
Hong Linh Ha Tinh	8	8	8	8	7	7	8

	Champion and Qualification for AFC Champions League Group Stage
	Qualification for AFC Cup group stage
	Assured a place of the AFC Cup group stage

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Relegation round

Team ╲ Round	14	15	16	17	18
Team ╲ Round
Thanh Hoa	11	11	11	11	11
Song Lam Nghe An	10	9	10	10	10
SHB Da Nang	9	10	9	9	9
Duoc Nam Ha Nam Dinh	12	12	12	13	13
Haiphong	13	13	13	12	12
Quang Nam	14	14	14	14	14

	Relegation to 2021 V.League 2