The Vissai Cement Ninh Bình Football Club (Vietnamese: Câu lạc bộ bóng đá Xi măng The Vissai Ninh Bình), simply known as Vissai Ninh Bình or Vissai-NB, was a professional association football club based in Ninh Bình, Vietnam. The club played in the V.League 1 from 2010 to 2014, when they withdrew due to consequences of a match-fixing scandal in the 2014 AFC Cup.
 | |||
| Full name | The Vissai Cement Ninh Bình Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1978 as Hồ Chí Minh City Police FC 2002 as Đông Á Bank 2005 as Đồng Tâm Long An Paint 2007 as VinaKansai Cement Ninh Bình 2009 as Vissai Ninh Bình 2023 reestablish as Phù Đổng Ninh Bình | ||
| Ground | Ninh Bình Stadium | ||
| Capacity | 22,000 | ||
| Chairman | Hoàng Mạnh Trường | ||
| 2014 (final) | V.League 1, 13th (withdrew) | ||
The team played at Ninh Bình Stadium.
History
Ho Chi Minh City Police
Vissai-NB's roots can be traced to Ho Chi Minh City Police F.C. (HCMCP, Vietnamese: Công an Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh), owned by the Ho Chi Minh City police department. They won the V.League in 1995 while finishing as runners-up in the 1993–94, 1996, 1999–2000 and 2001–02 seasons.[1] In 1998, the club played a nationally-televised friendly match against the semi-professional San Francisco Bay Seals, winning 3–1. The match marked the first time an American soccer team had played in post-war Vietnam.[2] HCMCP's most well-known player is Lê Huỳnh Đức, an important member of the first "golden generation" of the Vietnamese national team and is also considered one of the greatest Vietnamese footballers of all time.[3][4]
Vissai Ninh Bình
In 2007, after undergoing two renamings and a move to Long An, the club was bought by Hoàng Mạnh Trường's VinaKansai cement company and moved to Ninh Bình, where they won the First Division in 2009. In preparation for the following season, their first in the top flight, Vissai-NB acquired many well-known players, including internationals such as Lê Phước Tứ, Vũ Như Thành and Phạm Văn Quyến. A domestic double followed three years later in the form of the National Cup and Super Cup, qualifying them for the AFC Cup.
Match-fixing scandal
During the 2014 season, Hoàng Mạnh Trường requested the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and Vietnam Professional Football (VPF) to withdraw Vissai-NB from the league due to 13 of their players' indictment for allegedly fixing a match against Malaysian side Kelantan F.C. in the 2014 AFC Cup, including captain Lê Văn Duyệt as well as internationals Nguyễn Gia Từ, Chu Ngọc Anh and Lê Văn Thắng, who was later cleared of any involvement. The club had played eight league matches and were third from bottom at the time.[5] Following the withdrawal, all of the club's results in the league were declared null and void. However, they continued to play in the AFC Cup until their eventual elimination by Hong Kong's Kitchee SC in the quarter-finals.[6]
Honours
Domestic
League
- V.League 1
- V.League 2 (First Division)
Winners: 2009
Cup
- Vietnamese National Cup
- Winners: 1998, 2001, 2013
Runners-up: 2000
- Vietnamese Super Cup
- Winners: 2013
- Runners-up: 1999, 2001
Performance in AFC competitions
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | AFC Cup | Group stage |  | South China | 1–1 | 3–1 |
 | Yangon United | 3–2 | 4–1 | |||
 | Kelantan | 4–0 | 3–2 | |||
| Round of 16 |  | Churchill Brothers | 4–2 | |||
| Quarter-finals | | Kitchee | 2–4 | 1–0 |
Record as V.League member
| Season | Pld | Won | Draw | Lost | GF | GA | GD | PTS | Final position | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 V.League 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13th | Withdrew |
| 2013 V.League 1 | 20 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 23 | 32 | −9 | 18 | 10th | Qualified for 2014 AFC Cup |
| 2012 V-League | 26 | 10 | 3 | 13 | 40 | 49 | −9 | 33 | 8th | |
| 2011 V-League | 26 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 37 | 35 | +2 | 39 | 4th | |
| 2010 V-League | 26 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 33 | 34 | −1 | 34 | 11th |