The Vissai Cement Ninh Bình Football Club (), simply known as Vissai Ninh Bình or Vissai-NB, was a professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club based in Ninh Bình, Vietnam. The club played in the

V.League 1 The V.League 1 (), also called LPBank V.League 1 for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football league in Vietnam, controlled by the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF). It is contested by 14 clubs who play each ...

from 2010 to 2014, when they withdrew due to consequences of a match-fixing scandal in the

2014 AFC Cup The 2014 AFC Cup was the 11th edition of the AFC Cup, a football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "developing countries" in Asia. Al-Kuwait were the two-time defending champions, but were eliminat ...

. The team played at

Ninh Bình Stadium Ninh Bình Stadium or Ninh Bình Arena is a multi-use stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by ...

History

Ho Chi Minh City Police

Vissai-NB's roots can be traced to Ho Chi Minh City Police F.C. (''HCMCP'', ), owned by the

Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

police department. They won the V.League in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

while finishing as runners-up in the 1993–94,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, 1999–2000 and 2001–02 seasons.Lịch sử Vleague ''(V-League History)''
. V-League. 2010. In 1998, the club played a nationally televised

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

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.U.S. Semipro Soccer Team Visits Vietnam
.

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

. February 15, 1998. HCMCP's most well-known player is

Lê Huỳnh Đức Lê Huỳnh Đức (born 20 April 1972) is a Vietnamese football manager and former footballer. He last managed V.League 1 club Becamex Bình Dương. Huỳnh Đức is a former member of the Vietnam national football team, with whom he earne ...

, 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.Le Huynh Duc – the young talented manager
. Vietnamese Ministry of Culture and Information. August 14, 2009.

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 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

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 Vũ Như Thành (born 28 August 1981) Vietnamese football coach and former professional player who is currently the head coach of V.League 2 club Phú Thọ. He was a member of the Vietnam team that won the 2008 AFF Championship. Coaching ca ...

and

Phạm Văn Quyến Phạm Văn Quyến (born April 29, 1984) is a retired Vietnamese footballer. Since his days as a Vietnamese U-16 international, Quyến was considered one of the most promising young players in Vietnam and a worthy successor to the legendary ...

. A domestic double followed three years later in the form of the

National Cup The English National Cup is an annual basketball knock-out competition held between professional, semi-professional and amateur teams from the various divisions of the National Basketball League (England), National Basketball League. For most of th ...

and

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

, qualifying them for the

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

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

, including captain Lê Văn Duyệt as well as internationals Nguyễn Gia Từ, Chu Ngọc Anh and

Lê Văn Thắng Lê Văn Thắng (born 8 February 1990) is a Vietnamese footballer who plays as a forward or attacking midfielder for Vietnamese club Thanh Hóa and the Vietnamese national team. Club career Hải Phòng Văn Thắng signed a 1-year deal wi ...

, who was later cleared of any involvement. The club had played eight league matches and were third from bottom at the time. 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 Kitchee Sports Club (; ; ) is a Hong Kong professional Association football, football club based in Kowloon. It was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. The club has won 12 List of Hong Kong football champion ...

in the quarter-finals.

Honours

Domestic

League *

**Winners:

** ''Runners-up:'' 1993–94,

, 1999–2000, 2001–02 *

V.League 2 The Vietnamese National Football First League (), known simply as the V.League 2 and for sponsorship purposes as Gold Star V.League 2, is the second-highest of the Vietnamese football league system after V.League 1, and is currently contested ...

(First Division) ** Winners: 2009 Cup *

Vietnamese National Cup Vietnamese National Football Cup (), commonly recognized and branded as the National Cup (), is a Vietnamese Association football, football competition. It is one of the most important club competitions in Vietnam. The Vietnamese Cup was first he ...

** Winners: 1998, 2001,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

** ''Runners-up:'' 2000 *

Vietnamese Super Cup Vietnamese National Football Super Cup (), also called the Thaco National Football Super Cup due to sponsorship reasons, is Vietnamese football's annual match contested between the champions of the previous V.League 1 season and the holders of th ...

** Winners: 2013 ** ''Runners-up:'' 1999, 2001

Performance in AFC competitions

Record as V.League member

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vissai Ninh BinhF.C. Association football clubs established in 2007 Football clubs in Vietnam