2026-2027 National Cup: Four V-League Clubs Fall to First Division Sides

At the 90+4th minute in Quy Nhon, the referee pointed to the penalty spot. A few dozen Hoang Anh Gia Lai supporters rose in the stands. The ball hit the net, pulling the score back to 2-3, but the final whistle came almost simultaneously. No celebration lasted. The mountain-city club walked into the tunnel in silence, on a pitch that is not their home. Pleiku is undergoing renovation because its drainage fails under heavy rain, so Quy Nhon was only a temporary shelter, and the emptiness of the stands became the clearest sound of the evening.

That silence is what I always look for when writing about football. A sports documentary does not film the match; it films the silence between matches. Over the past weekend, the 2026-2027 National Cup qualifiers opened exactly such a silence: eight matches, and four clubs currently playing in the V-League fell to First Division sides. Three of those four defeats happened at home. Only Bac Ninh preserved the dignity of the top tier, beating Long An 3-2 away.

Context: the place of the National Cup in Vietnamese football

To read these eight matches correctly, they must be placed where they belong in the calendar. The National Cup in Vietnam is not a minor tournament, but it has never been the main battleground for most clubs. For a club with resources, it is a chance at a short-path trophy. For a club struggling near the bottom, it is an added cost in an already loss-making season.

The 2026-2027 National Cup qualifiers landed exactly as the V-League passed its first two rounds, when every club sits in a half-ripe state of fitness, form, and personnel.

Thanh Hoa and the 0-2 fall at home

Of the four defeats, Thanh Hoa left the clearest trace of cause. The Thanh club lost 0-2 at home to Becamex Ho Chi Minh City, a side just relegated and now a candidate for immediate promotion. Becamex entered with a squad no weaker than the hosts, played with more determination, and won without much difficulty.

A key detail: before facing Becamex, Thanh Hoa faced a fresh money problem. FIFA ordered the club to pay more than 305,000 USD, roughly 8 billion VND, to Rimario Gordon after the Jamaican striker filed a complaint. The document was issued on September 16. If unresolved within 45 days, Thanh Hoa will be banned from registering new players for three transfer windows. The complication: the matter arose under the previous sponsor, while the club has since been transferred to a new one.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai and Hung Yen: 1-3 before the 77th minute

If Thanh Hoa lost through exhaustion, Hoang Anh Gia Lai lost through lack of support. At Quy Nhon, the mountain-city club let Hung Yen lead 3-1 by the 77th minute, then pulled one back from the spot at 90+4 to make it 2-3. Two factors combined: the home ground was no longer home, and the squad is thinner than last season.

Hai Phong and Thep Can Tho: one goal, one signing

Hai Phong hosted Thep Can Tho and lost 0-1. The visitors had just relocated from Quang Ninh to Can Tho and had lost their First Division opener. The only goal came from Thaileon, a striker who had joined just days earlier and scored in the first half.

Hong Linh Ha Tinh and Phu Tho: 0-0, defeat on penalties

Hong Linh Ha Tinh did not lose in regulation. They held hosts Phu Tho to 0-0 over 90 minutes, then fell 2-3 in the shootout.

The contrarian view: losing early in the Cup may be the right call

For many V-League clubs, especially those without title ambitions, the National Cup is not the main arena. The deeper they go, the more they spend on travel and accommodation, and the more they must worry about squad rotation, while V-League survival matters far more. Survival is life and death. A Cup quarterfinal is a pleasure.

Still, this is a reasonable reading, not a defense. It makes sense in resource management terms, not in competitive terms. When half the V-League qualifiers enter their matches half-heartedly, the tournament's value erodes from within.

The counterintuitive view: the gap between the two tiers is thinning

Four defeats in two days say more than the indifference of top-tier clubs. They also say something about the progress of the First Division. Money gaps are widening, but gaps on the pitch are narrowing.

A thought going forward

The Vietnamese National Cup stands at a point where each season asks the same question: how can the tournament be taken seriously? For Thanh Hoa, the immediate issue is not the Cup, but the 45-day deadline and the 305,000 USD. For Hoang Anh Gia Lai, it is the Pleiku pitch and a thinner squad. Vietnamese fans deserve a tournament where even clubs fighting relegation find a reason to stay one more round.