The Data-Less Report: The Missing Piece of Vietnamese Football

Receiving a 'sophisticated' analysis report from a specialized system, I eagerly opened it and saw only 'N/A – insufficient information'. All sections from tactics, finance, players, to media risk were empty. Not a single number, no name, no event. At first, it looked like a system error, but on reflection, it exposes a chronic problem in Vietnamese football: the lack of reliable data. When I started as a sports reporter more than thirty years ago, nobody talked about across-volume spaces or transfer values in millions. Vietnamese football back then was written with the emotions of patriots, with cheers from the stands, and with hero-village tales. The only data was the scoreboard printed on newspaper pages. Now that the wave of data analysis from Europe has arrived, I wonder: are we truly ready for a data revolution, or are we just chanting slogans? That report is a distorted example. If you feed a football article lacking events into the system, it responds with a pile of 'N/A'. Not because the system is weak, but because the input is poor. Applied to the V.League context, this equates to missing the most basic data: pass statistics, distances covered, heat maps, average salaries, possession rates, shots on target. A series of numbers that the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and clubs never systematically disclose. The problem is not merely technical. Look at Vietnamese football media. There are countless outlets, fanpages, YouTube channels talking about football, but most revolve around rumors, coaches' statements, or celebration moments. Truly insightful analyses with cited numbers and tactical comparisons come from a few writers who self-taught using foreign data sources. I once wrote about a national team match, using xG to show we created better chances than the opponent yet lost. Many readers criticized it as 'too much numbers, hard to understand.' They are used to emotional writing: 'The final whistle echoed, joy burst from the stands.' But when losing, they can only complain, blame the referee without understanding why the team could not convert chances into goals. The 'N/A' report reminds me of a story from a club I followed for 20 years. In the 2026 season, that club replaced the entire coaching staff and bought five foreign players marketed as 'stars'. The media made a fuss, calling it a 'revolution'. The first half of the season was brilliant; the team topped the table. But the management suddenly sacked the coach citing 'recent results not meeting expectations.' In fact, data on the team's performance (shots per game, set-piece goals) had clearly declined in the previous four rounds, a sign of a lifeless playing style. The coach was not trusted because no one looked at the numbers to recognize the declining trend. He was fired after a single loss, forgetting the team had a five-game winning streak before. That story is not exceptional. Many V.League coaches live in constant precariousness, and the team's style lacks identity due to constant upheaval. People often say: 'Football is about destiny.' But what we call destiny is a coincidence of many factors: players in form, suitable tactics, luck in moments. Without data, we only see the surface. Fans are delighted when Vietnam's Messi – Quang Hai – makes a brilliant free kick. But behind that, how does he move, what is his pass completion rate in the final third? No one knows. Even his club cannot track physical workload without a proper analysis department. The finance of Vietnamese football is also a dark area. Many sponsorship contracts are kept secret, player salaries are rumors, and fans do not know where the money goes. We have seen owners withdraw, leaving clubs owing wages and collapsing. If responsible organizations provided clear financial reports, the press would have data to warn early. That night, Than Quang Ninh announced dissolution, a dozen players watching the season being abandoned in despair. Many blamed the chairman, but who dares say sponsors were fooled by forged financial reports? If there were an independent oversight system requiring clubs to submit periodic data, many negative cases could be prevented. The N/A report also includes items like 'Media attractiveness' and 'Dressing-room health'. How can you assess that without proper surveys and in-depth interviews? In top leagues, outlets like The Athletic dare to write about club internal issues based on sources and data on playing time of substitutes, to reveal hidden dissatisfaction. Vietnamese sports journalism largely exploits 'heroes', avoiding sensitive issues to maintain relationships. Therefore, more and more rumors are published by journalists only because they are afraid to write directly, leading to misinformation. But I am not pessimistic. On the contrary, I believe this emptiness will be an opportunity. The younger generation learns from international data sites, they can use Python to scrape data from websites, they know about Wyscout, Instat, and machine learning algorithms. They are eager to bring these tools to Vietnamese football. I met a group of students at the Bac Ninh University of Physical Education and Sports; they built a V.League data repository by manually counting from video tapes. Lacking official sources, they still did it with patience and creativity. That is a bright spot. Myself, when I first entered the profession, was not trained in data analysis. I had a notebook in which I recorded matches, goals, tactics manually. During those years, I realized that meticulous note-taking sharpened my perspective. That 'N/A' report reminds me of an era when all we had were colored papers. Now, we cannot use the excuse of lacking resources to avoid digital transformation. The VFF needs to enforce regulations requiring clubs to provide match data, player health data, and publish basic financial metrics. The federation also needs to build a team of analysts to synthesize and release annual reports. Tactical problems also lie in coach education. Currently, AFC and UEFA certificates include data analysis in their curriculum, but in Vietnam, the program remains heavy on theoretical books, with little update. Young coaches like Le Quoc Vuong or Vu Hong Viet, despite good starts, still struggle to apply modern methods because of the lack of their own team's data. They have to rely on intuition and experience, whereas foreign coaches like Park Hang-seo brought in fitness assistants and video analysis teams. The results we have seen: the U23 team made a sensation, but then declined because the system was not sustained. Returning to the report that inspired this article, I just want to emphasize that data is not a luxury but the foundation of all development. A country cannot run football with slogans. I remember the moment Vietnamese player Do Duy Manh scored in the SEA Games final; the whole stadium exploded in tears. But if we do not know whether we dominated possession or not, how many central attacks were created from wings, that victory is just a moment. Like literature, football analysis needs coherence. We need trustworthy numbers to then be able to soar into emotional symphonies that fans love. A big mistake many make, including me at the start, is thinking emotion and data are opposites. But in fact, a valuable article combines both. Data tells us why the left side is strong, why number 9 excels when playing closer to the box, why the opponent's pressing system works only in the first half. Emotion helps us understand how those numbers become joy or disappointment in the stands. Without one of the two, the article becomes dry or superficial. In the N/A report, people also mention 'Risk analysis'. A system only draws conclusions when it has data, but humans tend to make judgments even without data. This is why we see fabricated information, baseless rumors harming players' reputations. For example, the case of Que Ngoc Hai leaving, or suspicions about Hoang Anh Gia Lai owing wages. Even now, no official source dares to confirm, yet netizens keep arguing endlessly. If clubs were transparent with contract data, such rumors would automatically disappear. I often ask my young colleagues: 'Do you know where your team ranks in counterattacks? Do you know the average distance covered by a central midfielder?' Most shake their heads. They only know head-to-head records and shirt colors. Sadly, football administrators are nurturing that ignorance. They love being flattered by the media, being praised as heroes, while concrete analysis is considered 'causing disunity'. When failure comes, they are ready to blame the media despite the pitch reality pointing to issues of fitness and injuries. As a woman journalist in a male-dominated field, I always had to work twice as hard to prove I am not just 'epicizing' the match. There were times when many said I spoiled the atmosphere because I delved into numbers instead of uplifting spirit. But I believe that if all journalists only make emotional judgments, football will never become professional. Players, coaches, and fans all need to be educated by actual data, not by sweet words. I have never stopped dreaming of a day when Vietnamese sports media publishes a morning bulletin with complete statistical data represented by charts. Fans can look up where their club generates strength – from the left wing or central combinations. In a league, coaches can analyze opponents' strengths and weaknesses based on data rather than 'feelings'. The federation can use data to allocate groups fairly, avoiding scheduling conflicts. If you ask me how to achieve that vision, I answer immediately: Start with very small steps. Each club should collect match data, from next season onward, even if not as much as in European leagues; at least it must have shots, possession, pass completion. The VFF should set up an analytics department to gather that data and release it free to TV stations and media. If there is no budget, leverage professors and students of sports universities, turning them into volunteers to collect data in organized matches. That way, after one season, we will have the first data warehouse. The 'N/A' reports are actually not useless. They help us recognize our gaps. Instead of being afraid to face them, sports media should dare to criticize systems running on superficiality. To do so, writers must equip themselves with data analysis knowledge, learn to read statistics from sites like FotMob, look at a midfielder's failed passes to find the cause. Otherwise, we will forever write 'tearful' but empty articles, never providing fans with fresh perspectives. Some will say: 'Football is art, not math.' I agree. But like a poet must master grammar and rhythm before composing poetry, a young coach needs to master data and tactics before creating beautiful football. Without anything to practice on, without anything to analyze, everything becomes a matter of luck. That explains why Vietnamese football suddenly produces a brilliant match but quickly fades away. During the 2026 World Cup, when I was reporting in Kazan, I saw Mbappe darting like lightning, and the world was stunned. But behind that speed is a massive data-driven youth academy of French football, where they select talents based on many criteria, not just an eye for talent. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese team, in the Quang Hai era, created artistic moments, but due to lack of data infrastructure, we could not replicate that performance every time we needed. Only with data can we discipline talent. This article is not meant to belittle Vietnamese football. I love our football deeply. I cried when Vietnam U23 finished runners-up in the Asian U23 Championship, and every time youth teams play, I am still as excited as a young girl. That love drives me to confront the flaws. The 'N/A' report I received seems like a test to see if the writer's thinking really clings to data or just empty slogans. I want to break away from the generic 'I love football' current and pursue more concrete questions. At the end of each piece, I usually want to leave a sentence containing a new idea. For this report, the sentence left for me is: 'When data is empty, do not rush to conclude; go back to collect.' For Vietnamese football, perhaps it is time to build a solid data foundation, not to show off internationally, but so that fans have a clear view and managers have correct information to make decisions. A new generation is ready; we just need to create an environment for them to apply those skills. And when the numbers are filled, analyses will no longer be 'N/A' soliloquies but become a real symphony of the pitch. Writing this article, I realize that I have partly answered the question 'Why is the report without content' with a positive response. The emptiness itself tells us it is time to act. In that context, the role of media people becomes even more important. They must become those who bring data to the public honestly and aesthetically. They must inspire clubs and young players to make Vietnamese football move forward forever.