Press and media: The main “striker” of Vietnamese football

The media is likened to a “striker” in the familiar 5-3-2 scheme of football. This model has been adopted by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and is common to most member federations. Accordingly, the goalkeeper is the National Football Association; defenders are sports marketing, youth football training, coaches, referees, sports medicine; Midfielders are women’s soccer, men’s soccer, and indoor soccer. The pair of strikers is the fans and the media.

In the history of formation and development, world football in general and Vietnamese football in particular have had the companionship of the media. Therefore, it can be affirmed that the media is an inseparable part, increasingly holding an important role in modern football. From that, it can be seen that the AFC pays special attention to the media factor, which AFC considers extremely important in the above 5-3-2 format. Because if the media does not do a good job as a bridge, marketing, promotion, image building, and branding for football cannot be completed, and then the revenue from football as well as professional activities will be difficult to develop.

In recent years, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF) and domestic clubs have paid more attention to communication and relationships. This system is becoming more and more efficient. The appearance in the media is a great opportunity to build the image of the national team (national team), clubs, players in front of the public, domestic and foreign fans. That will be the foundation, the “soul” to build the image, affirm the position and promote the country’s football to stand on its own feet and develop, meeting the fans’ expectations.

In sharing with reporters and journalists, Acting President of the Vietnam Football Federation Tran Quoc Tuan affirmed that the press as a striker in the football scheme has made a significant contribution to the development of sports in general, and football in particular. “Journalists and sports reporters are like strikers in the development of Vietnamese football. The information and images of the media and the press have been shared in a timely manner so that Vietnamese fans have the opportunity to cheer and support Vietnamese football teams. Also, in the past time, VFF has made great efforts to create favorable conditions from both domestic and international so that reporters and journalists can work and accompany the team.”

Not only strengthening cooperation with domestic press agencies, VFF also expands coordination with international press agencies, international football organizations, especially FIFA and AFC. VFF also changed the method of interaction to be more proactive in communication, listening and absorbing comments from press agencies to serve better and more professionally.

Along with the achievements of Vietnamese football in international tournaments, it has generated great international attention; on FIFA’s website articles about Vietnamese football (men’s, women’s, and Futsal’s national teams) appear more; The AFC website also publishes many portrait articles, interviews with players, head coaches of Vietnam’s national teams… This is the first time, images of Vietnamese coaches and football players are interested in posting on websites. of international football organizations according to each event the Vietnamese teams attend. This shows the influence of Vietnamese football on international media as well as international football fans. Not only that, in AFC’s online polls, Vietnamese players are constantly named, creating a certain amount of attention.

Vietnamese football needs investment to build strong clubs, thereby creating the foundation for a strong national team. The image value will have great power, spread and attraction for the spectator as well as investors. Communication, image building, and brand creation must be taken care of from the smallest things. For example, how to deal with the media of coaches and players; participate in advertising activities or synchronization, high discipline. The positive moves of many football clubs in the country have shown a change in thinking as well as methods to develop the image of each club.

With the active participation and responsibility of the “strikers” of the press, the activities of the country’s football have been richly and diversely conveyed to domestic and international football fans, contributing to raising the bar for football. development of Vietnamese football.