LookAtVietnam – Former army football club “Military Zone 4” has been transferred and is now owned by Navibank.

Now its players are set to hang up their military uniforms and become civilians as every team member has opted to swap military service for life as a full time footballer.

In addition, the new team will be called Navibank Saigon and will move from “Military Zone 4” in the central region. The club’s coach Vu Quang Bao has also agreed to lead the new team.

The team will become a member of the HCM City Football Federation.

Having made it to Vietnamese top flight football in 2009 the team started strongly but ended up only securing their V League safety on the final day of the season.

While the switching of football franchises may owe more to American sports than worldwide football the sale of football teams and switching of locations is not new to Vietnamese soccer.

In late September 2009, the Ministry previously decided to sell its other team The Cong. The team was sold to Viettel. Although Viettel is the Army’s mobile phone company – the team is now classed as a non-military side fielding civilians.

PV