Besides Doan Nguyen Duc, a businessman who is famous for his Hoang Anh Gia Lai football team, the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai has another businessman who also invests in sports – Bui Phap, the chair of Duc Long Military Zone 5 volleyball team.

Doan Nguyen Duc was deemed extravagant when he bought a Thai football star Kiatisuk nine years ago. Now Bui Phap is considered extravagant to invest a lot of money in his volleyball team. He has also bought a Thai star, Wanchai Tabwises,

Duc and Phap are the same age, 49. They grew up in poor families, chose Gia Lai as their home and started working in wood processing.

If Duc has become very famous after a long time investing in football, Phap became known only in 2009 when he invested in the Duc Long Military Zone 5 volleyball team.

Phap’s Duc Long Gia Lai group committed itself to pay VND2 billion dong (over $100,000) to the volleyball team annually, within three consecutive years. However, Phap spent more than 10 billion dong on the team in over a year.

It is said that the above sum of money is good to invest in football but for volleyball, with that money, Phat can set up his own volleyball team, a big one in Vietnam. However, Phat has invested the money effectively.

He bought the top volleyball player in Vietnam Nguyen Huu Ha at the cost of 3 billion dong and then the top striker in Southeast Asia, Wanchai Tabwises from Thailand.

He also bought Le Tri Dung and Nguyen Van Hanh from Ninh Binh, Nguyen Van Toai from HCM City.

Though the team didn’t perform very well this year, Phat said that he was not extravagant because his team has a true potential. “In Gia Lai, football has become very popular. Now I want to invest in volleyball to bring more joy to Gia Lai people. This year my team is not successful but I expect to turn it into a top team next year,” Phat said.

PV