The Vietnamese Football League Second Division ( vi, Giải Bóng đá Hạng nhì Quốc gia) is the third tier professional
association football league in
Vietnam controlled by the
Vietnam Football Federation.
History
A national third tier of Vietnamese association football was first established along with its professionalization in 1995. Among the 10 original clubs of the third tier included the forerunners to
Thanh Hóa
Thanh Hóa () is the capital of Thanh Hóa Province. The city is situated in the east of the province on the Ma River (Sông Mã), about 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Hanoi and 1560 kilometers (969 miles) north of Ho Chi Minh City. Thanh ...
,
Cần Thơ,
Đồng Nai,
Cà Mau and
Lâm Đồng Lâm is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Lin in Chinese and Im in Korean.
Lam is the anglicized variation of the surname Lâm.
Lam is also a commonly held surname of Cantonese speakers of Chinese descent. Large populations in ...
. But after a number of clubs were lost for various reasons – some were promoted to V.League and the others folded – the league contracted the second division in 1997 and continued with the single second-tier division.
The third tier football was reintroduced in 2000 upon creation of fully professional
V.League 2
V.League 2 or Vietnamese National Football First League, ( vi, Giải Bóng đá Hạng Nhất Quốc Gia Việt Nam), also called LS V.League 2 for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier professional association football league in Vietnam c ...
. But despite its officially amateur status the league quickly became de facto semi-professional, serving as the cradle of the future V. League members. Since the establishment of associate membership system in 2006 the number of professional clubs holding or actively seeking for this status has grown steadily and reached its peak in 2010 season when 6 full members and 2 former candidates made up to almost half of the league's 18 teams. Through the course of the season this number grew even bigger, to 15 full associate members that formed the core of V.League 3.
2020 season
15 sides compete in the 2020 season, split into two groups, A and B, of 7 and 8 respectively.
''Group A''
''Group B''
Winners
{{AFC third leagues
3
Sports leagues established in 2001
2000s establishments in Vietnam
Third level football leagues in Asia