Vietnamese side Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC will resume their hunt for silverware when they feature in the inaugural ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ that kicks off in earnest on August 21 with group stage action.
Velizar Popov’s Thanh Hóa, who secured back-to-back Vietnamese National Cups at the start of July, are one of the two sides representing Vietnam in the 2024/25 edition of the Shopee Cup – the other being 2023 V.League 1 champions Cong An Hanoi FC.
Honours
Vietnamese National Cup (2): 2024, 2023
Vietnamese Super Cup (2): 2023, 2009
Club highlights
Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC are currently enjoying the most successful period in their club history having won their first-ever Vietnamese National Cup beating Viettel FC last year and then successfully defending their title overcoming Hanoi FC on penalties to wrap up their 2023/24 season. The club also won the Super Cup in 2023 at the expense of fellow Shopee Cup participants Cong An Hanoi FC.
Thanh Hóa will be hoping to build on their recent success with their sights firmly trained on a league title – having finished runners-up in the Vietnamese top division in 2017 and 2018 – and also a good showing against top Southeast Asian clubs in the Shopee Cup during the 2024/25 season.
Head coach: Velizar Popov
Velizar Popov is no stranger to Southeast Asian football having coached Suphanburi FC and Sisaket in Thailand, Kelantan in Malaysia and the Myanmar U-23 national team. The 48-year-old Bulgarian tactician has also taken up coaching jobs in his home country, Moldova, Oman and the Maldives before his latest assignment with Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC in Vietnam where Popov has overseen a trophy-laden spell winning three titles in two seasons with the Lam Son Warriors and signed a new deal with the club recently.
Key player: Rimario Gordon
Jamaican striker Rimario Gordon has been a popular name in Vietnamese football since joining Hoang Anh Gia Lai in 2018. Not much later, he would join Thanh Hóa and bag eight goals and assists each to help them finish runners-up in the league. However, Hanoi FC came calling the following season and Gordon continued banging in goals for the then-champions. After further stints with Binh Dinh, Hai Phong and Becamex Binh Duong, the 30-year-old returned to Thanh Hóa in 2023 scoring 10 league goals and proving his scoring touch is still very much intact.
One to watch: Nguyen Thai Son
Nguyen Thai Son’s solid displays for Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC in 2023 were rewarded by a call-up to the Vietnam squad with the defensive midfielder making his international debut against Syria at the age of 19. Thai Son went on to make three appearances in their 2023 AFC Asian Cup campaign and also featured regularly for the national team during the second round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Having added more creativity to his play during the 2023/24 season, the future is indeed looking bright for the Thanh Hóa youngster.
Did you know?
Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC's 28-year-old winger Lam Ti Phong has a peculiar Thai connection with his football-loving father naming his son after former Thailand striker Natipong Sritong-In who scored the goal that helped Thai Farmers Bank claim back-to-back Asian Club Championship titles in 1995 and was part of the War Elephants squad that won the AFF Championship in 1996.
Shopee Cup fixtures
Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC vs Shan United FC (21 August, 2024)
Terengganu FC vs Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC (25 September, 2024)
BG Pathum United vs Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC (8 January, 2025)
Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC vs Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng FC (22 January, 2025)
PSM Makassar vs Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC (5 February, 2025)
Photo: Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC
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