Cong An Ho Chi Minh City FC

Saigon Port era

On 1 November 1975, the Saigon Port Workers Football Club was officially established, inherited many players and staffs from the previous Saigon Harbour Football Club that competed in the South Vietnam Football Championship.^[4] The team quickly became well known in Southern Vietnam, together with Hải Quan - their local rivals.^[5]

In 1980, Saigon Port was one of 10 clubs based in Southern Vietnam to participate in the 1980 Vietnamese National A1 League - the first football championship in Vietnam.^[6] In 1983, former defender Phạm Huỳnh Tam Lang returned from Germany and was appointed as a head coach for the club.^[7] In 1984, CSG began to focus on recruiting young players from their youth academy, including Đặng Trần Chỉnh, Hà Vương Ngầu Nại, Nguyễn Hoàng Châu, Phạm Văn Tám, ... This squad was later regarded as the club's "Golden Generation".^[5] Among them, midfielder Hà Vương Ngầu Nại received recognition by becoming the top scorer of the 1989 V-League, scoring a total of 10 goals.^[8] However, until the end of 1990, the team had not won any more titles besides the 1986 V-League.^{[citation needed]}

From 1990 to 2001, many players of the team were called up to the Vietnam national team, including Nguyễn Hồng Phẩm, Hà Vương Ngầu Nại, Lư Đình Tuấn, Hồ Văn Lợi, Huỳnh Hồng Sơn. In 2001, under the new name Saigon Port Football Club, they won another league title in the 2001–02 season.^[9] However, they were relegated to the First Division the following season, returning to the V-League again in 2005.^[10]

Ho Chi Minh City era

The Saigon Port Corporation's officials claimed at the end of 2008 that they no longer had enough money to support the club. At that time, they only had one primary sponsor, the Vietnam Steel Company, the club's leadership decided to alter the team's name in order to operate on a professional model. The name Ho Chi Minh City Football Club was adopted with the permission of the club's management unit, the Ho Chi Minh City Football Company Ltd, and the Ho Chi Minh City Football Federation, with a 15 billion Vietnam Dong investment for the team.

Because of their devotion to the heritage connected with the name Saigon Port, the club's supporters have expressed disappointment and resistance to the decision to alter the name. Yet, the club's objective was to become a major football club in Ho Chi Minh City, as well as to promote the acquisition of government and commercial aid. The club officially changed its name to Ho Chi Minh City Football Club on 22 January 2009, with the Vietnam Steel Corporation serving as the team's primary sponsor.^{[citation needed]}

The supporters were vehemently opposed to the name change. The whole Fans Association Executive Committee resigned, and the Saigon Port Football Supporters Association dissolved, generating problems for the team in its first season under the new name. They were relegated to Vietnamese Football League Second Division after finishing at the 13th place in the 2009 season. In 2012, the club finished last in the Vietnamese First League. After only one season at the Vietnamese Second League, Ho Chi Minh returned to the First League in 2015. With the ambition to return to top fight, Ho Chi Minh City received big investments and successfully gained a promotion to the V.League 1 after winning the 2016 V.League 2.^[11]

Following returning to the V.League 1 in 2017, the team focused more on drawing spectators to the stadium by listening to supporters' criticism and renovating the stadium, stands, and so on. As a consequence, the club's reputation among supporters progressively improved. After that, the Ho Chi Minh City Football Club Fans Association was formed. The squad finished 12th in the league standings in 2017.

In the 2019 season, Jung Hae-seong was named as Hồ Chí Minh City's new head coach. He was the VIetnam national team's assistant coach. Under his management, Hồ Chí Minh City was in the title race, being the league's top 2 throughout the season. The club finished first after the first part of the season, but then Hà Nội.^[12] Therefore, Hồ Chí Minh City finished as runners-up, their best result since their rebranding in 2012. The team also qualified to the 2020 AFC Champions League preliminary round.^[13]

In the following the season, Hồ Chí Minh City had spent 20 billion ₫ on the transfer market, signing several reputated V.League 1 players such as Nguyễn Công Phượng and Võ Huy Toàn, as well as Costa Rican forwards Ariel Rodríguez and José Guillermo Ortiz. The club began the season with a defeat against Hà Nội in the Vietnamese Super Cup, follow by the defeat in the AFC Champions League preliminary round which resulted in their entry to the 2020 AFC Cup group stage. There, the team topped their group with two wins and one defeat before the competition was cancelled due to logistic problems with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. in the 2020 V.League 1, the club's form was inconsistent and the foreign players performed poorly. The club finished 5th in the league.^[14]

Before the start of the 2021 season, the club's management made several changes to the team's personnel with the goal of winning the 2021 V.League 1. Alexandré Pölking, the former coach of Bangkok United, was appointed as the team's new head coach with a 1-year contract.^[15][16][17] In December 2020, Ho Chi Minh City then announced the signing of Vietnamese-American midfielder Lee Nguyen, who played for USA national team.^[18][19][20] However, the team performed poorly, due to players' difficulties to adapt to the coach's tactics. The club eventually finished at 11th place when the season was cancelled after the 14th matchday, due to the impact of Covid -19 in Vietnam.^[21][22]

Cong An Ho Chi Minh City era

On 14 July 2025, the club was officially rebranded to Cong An Ho Chi Minh City FC, following the club's ownership being transferred to the Ho Chi Minh City Public Security Department.^[23][24] This marked the return of the name Cong An Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnamese football system since 2002 when the 1979 established team had dissolved.^[25]

First-team squad

As of 4 January 2026^[30]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

More information No., Pos. ...

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  VIE Nguyễn Tân 4 DF  BRA Matheus Felipe 5 DF  VIE Lê Khả Đức 6 MF  VIE Võ Huy Toàn 7 MF  AUS Peter Makrillos 9 FW  VIE Đinh Thanh Bình (on loan from Ninh Bình) 10 FW  BRA Raphael Utzig (on loan from Zira) 11 MF  VIE Tẩy Văn Toàn (on loan from PVF-CAND) 12 MF  VIE Phạm Văn Luân (on loan from Cong An Hanoi) 13 DF  VIE Khổng Minh Gia Bảo 14 MF  MAS Endrick 15 MF  VIE Phạm Đức Huy 17 DF  VIE Võ Minh Trọng 18 MF  VIE Bùi Ngọc Long 19 MF  VIE Nguyễn Thái Quốc Cường 20 DF  VIE Võ Hữu Việt Hoàng

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 MF  VIE Đào Quốc Gia 22 FW  VIE Nguyễn Tiến Linh 23 MF  VIE Đặng Văn Lắm 25 GK  VIE Trần Văn Tiến 26 FW  AUS Khoa Ngo (on loan from Perth Glory) 27 FW  VIE Bùi Văn Bình 28 DF  VIE Trần Hoàng Phúc 34 DF  VIE Lê Quang Hùng 36 MF  VIE Dương Văn Hào 39 MF  VIE Nguyễn Đức Phú (on loan from PVF-CAND) 66 FW  ENG Lee Williams (on loan from The Cong-Viettel) 67 GK  VIE Nguyễn Mạnh Cường 68 MF  VIE Mạch Ngọc Hà (on loan from Ninh Bình) 89 GK  SVK Patrik Le Giang (captain) 90 DF  VIE Trần Mạnh Cường

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Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

More information No., Pos. ...

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  VIE Adriano Schmidt (to Becamex HCMC until 1 July 2026) 16 MF  VIE Chu Văn Kiên (to Hồ Chí Minh City until 1 July 2026) 77 MF  VIE Phan Nhật Thanh Long (to Becamex HCMC until 1 July 2026)

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National competitions

League

• V.League 1:
  • Winners: 1986, 1993–94, 1997, 2001–02
  • Runners-up: 2019
  • Third place: 1985, 1990, 1995
• V.League 2:
  • Winners: 2004, 2016
  • Third place: 2015
• South Vietnam Football Championship:
  • Winners: 1977, 1978, 1979^[31]

Cup

• Vietnamese Cup:
  • Winners: 1992, 1999–2000
  • Runners-up: 1994, 1996, 1997
  • Third place: 2020, 2019
• Vietnamese Super Cup:
  • Runners-up: 2000, 2002, 2019

Other competitions

• BTV Cup:
  • Winners: 2000
  • Runners-up: 2001