Published:  10:31 Tuesday - May 07, 2013

The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) should be led by a businessman, not a State official as it has been for the last 20 years, former sports minister Ha Quang Du told Tuoi Tre ahead of the election for the VFF presidency next month.

After 20 years of running a social organization like the VFF in the outdated mentality of placing its ‘own personnel’ as the leader, now is the time for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to change its ways, he added.

Over the past 20 years, the management structure at the VFF has stuck to the model that a State leader in a certain industry is chosen as the leader of the VFF.

It has failed to create a necessary breakthrough for the development of Vietnamese football.

So, the coming term from 2013-2017 should be organized on a different model and a businessman should take on the presidency, he said.

“I am thinking that the VFF presidency should be handed over to a prestigious businessman with a long history in football. We cannot follow the old way if we seek development for national football,” he stressed.

The problem is that the ministry fears a change in management of the VFF, he added.

Thanks to the fact that they hold posts at the VFF and a State agency, no VFF president has ever been charged with responsibility for a problem at the football governing body.

A former VFF leader recalled a meeting of the body’s standing committee many years ago. When football staff began an argument at the meeting, the president kept silent and looked out the window. After a while, he turned back to his staff and asked, “Did you finish arguing? If it’s done, let’s disband!”

Over the past several years no one concluded anything. You can do what you like, said the former leader.

The other problem is that no state official assigned to act as VFF chief is eager to take on the post, Du added.

Tuoitrenews