Thanh Hoa players strike to collect debt

18 Thanh Hoa players signed a petition, including foreign player Gustavo as well as domestic players such as A Mit, Nguyen Thai Son, Lam Ti Phong, Nguyen Xuan Hoang... They said the team's leadership did not pay as promised, and owed money in both 2023 and 2024.

On his personal page, A Mit wrote: "Behind each player is a life and family. I sincerely hope that competent leaders will listen and resolve this."

In addition to not paying enough salaries, bonuses and kickbacks, the team's leaders also owe money to the province and businesses in the province that gave the team bonuses during their journey to win the National Cup in the 2023 season and the 2023-2024 season. The total debt is up to nearly 20 billion VND.

Thanh Hoa players said they have been promised to pay their debt many times but have not received it. Therefore, they decided to go on strike and stop training until they receive the money.

Responding to reporters, the club's CEO Cao Hoang Duc said that the debt was not as much as the players alleged and had promised them that a payment plan would be made by August 15. He determined that now "we will play as we see fit".

Thanh Hoa is currently sponsored by Dong A Group. The team has not had a high performance in the V-League but has impressed with two consecutive National Cups when winning the penalty shootout in the final, against Viettel in the 2023 season and Hanoi FC in the 2023-2024 season.

Before the salary arrears, Thanh Hoa also caused a stir by not participating in the Asian tournament. The National Cup champion team should have a direct ticket to the AFC Champions League Two group stage, but then asked not to participate in the tournament. VFF asked the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to give the ticket to another representative of Vietnam but was not approved. AFC then took the ticket from Vietnam and gave it to the Thai team Muangthong United.