Former players' Football Club of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: A 25-year journey of keeping the flame alive and igniting passion
WVR - Twenty-five years have passed, and those who laid the first bricks for the team have retired, while the young players of yesteryears have become mentors, guiding the next generations. Time may change the faces on the field, but it cannot dim the sports flame kindled from the early days, nor the love for football that has become a cherished memory and pride for the members of the Former Players' Football Club of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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I am currently working at the World & Vietnam Report (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). After many years with the organization, what I cherish is not just a professional working environment, as close as family, a common home striving together, but also the opportunities it has given me to participate in the Ministry's collective, cultural, and sports activities, and those of the Ministry's Trade Union. Thanks to this, I have been able to interact, learn, and improve both physically and mentally, helping to rejuvenate my energy, work passionately, and love my job more.
One of the most meaningful activities for me is being part of the Former Players' Football Club of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
There, people from many generations and various units inside and outside the Ministry meet for a simple commonality: the passion for football. After stressful and tiring work hours, we don the colors of our large home – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – and chase the ball on the field together.
Time flies, and the Club is now 25 years old. A quarter of a century is long enough for the initial faces, some of whom have retired, while the young players of the past have become senior figures, and new “strikers” continue to join the team. But one thing seems never to change: the sports flame ignited from the early days and the burning love for the ball remain intact in the minds of the team members.
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| Former Players' Football Club of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - A 25-Year Journey of Keeping the Flame Alive and Igniting Passion. |
From a Decision 25 Years Ago
I still believe every long journey begins with a very specific moment.
For the Former Players' Football Club of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that moment was September 8, 2001.
In 2001, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Trade Union was awarded the Labor Medal for its sports movement. In that atmosphere, Mr. Nguyen Van Viem, then Chairman of the Ministry's Trade Union, decided to establish the football club, continuing the sports tradition of the entire sector.
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| Mr. Nguyen Van Viem (third from right) was then the Chairman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Trade Union, along with founding members of the Club. |
Back then, the Club had only 14 members, most of whom were former players.
Fourteen people. One ball. One playground. And perhaps, no one could have imagined that from such a small team, 25 years later, a common home would form, gathering nearly 100 members.
But memorable journeys sometimes don't start with grand things. They begin with an idea, a decision, and people ready to take the first steps.
In our story, Mr. Nguyen Van Viem was the one who laid the first brick.
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| The lineup from the early days when the Club was established. |
The Person on the “Sidelines”
If Mr. Nguyen Van Viem was the one who lit the first flame, the person who has persistently kept that flame alive for 25 years is Mr. Bui Vinh Cuong – the Club's President since its inception.
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| The Club organized the VII Congress for the 2018 - 2021 term. |
Those Who “Pass the Flame” from the Sidelines
Twenty-five years is a proud journey for a club, and maintaining a team for such a period is a story worthy of respect.
The Club has experienced many ups and downs, especially difficulties with venues. Both subjective and objective obstacles once led players to gradually give up. There were times when maintaining a team seemed like an unsolvable puzzle. But in the end, the Club persevered.
I imagine that in this journey, alongside the players on the field, there was always someone persistently standing behind – Mr. Bui Vinh Cuong.
As the years passed, there were sunny days, rainy days; there were favorable matches and times when the team faced challenges. Time changes, people change, but Mr. Cuong remains there, as the Club's President, maintaining the team with its members.
Perhaps a team is not just made up of goals. Sometimes, what matters more is having someone who still believes in the team after difficult days; who finds ways to gather everyone when numbers dwindle; who keeps a place for football lovers to return to. In our Club, the person holding that role for 25 years is Mr. Bui Vinh Cuong.
And I think that's part of the reason why a team founded with 14 members in 2001 can reach the milestone of a quarter-century.
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| President Bui Vinh Cuong speaking at the 25th-anniversary celebration of the Club's founding. |
One Team, Many Generations
There is something I particularly cherish about the Club: there is no generational gap here.
In the early days, most members were former players. Twenty-five years later, the Club has gathered nearly 100 members. Among them are not only retired officials but also many currently working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, its operational agencies both domestically and abroad, including young “strikers” new to the sector.
Perhaps the round ball has a unique way of bridging age gaps.
On the field, no one asks each other about their current positions or units. There are only passes, collaborations, calls, and joy after each match.
From a football club, we found relationships beyond work boundaries. There are those who had never worked together before but became teammates. There are generations that seemed far apart but met on the same field.
Over the past 25 years, the Club's journey hasn't been confined to internal matches. The Club has engaged in exchanges with youth teams from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, teams in Hanoi, as well as teams in Bac Ninh and Phu Tho.
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| On the occasion of the 25th anniversary, the Club held a friendly match with the veteran club of Bac Ninh City. |
Each exchange is an opportunity for football enthusiasts to meet, compete, and connect. But there is a milestone that I think many Club members will find unforgettable. From July 29 to August 2, 2010, the Club traveled to Laos to interact with the Vietnamese community in Vientiane. Subsequently, the Club invited their Lao friends to exchange at Hang Day Stadium, Hanoi.
A football trip, but perhaps not just about football. Behind the matches are emotions, exchanges, and meetings among those who share a love for sports and connections built through each ball pass.
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| Mr. Ngo Quang Manh, President of the veteran club of Bac Ninh City, presents a souvenir gift to congratulate the 25th anniversary of the Former Players' Football Club of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. |
| On the occasion of the 25th anniversary, the Club held a friendly football match with the veteran club of Bac Ninh City at Vinaphone Football Field, Hanoi. The match took place in a lively, joyful atmosphere, with a spirit of friendly, fair play sportsmanship, full of determination and enthusiasm, bringing the audience many great plays and beautiful goals. Concluding the friendly program, players and supporters of both teams enjoyed a colorful cultural and artistic exchange party, especially with the Quan Ho folk songs from the Kinh Bac homeland: “Oh dear! Please don't leave! When you return, bow deeply, The vast soul of Kinh Bac, Filled with the rich melodies of home.” Interspersed with these melodies were musical colors praising the love for football, the love for the homeland, with cheers and endless applause. |
25 Years – and the Ball Keeps Rolling
Twenty-five years ago, only 14 people stood at the starting line. Today, nearly 100 members have joined the Club. That number gives me the feeling that what has been maintained over the past 25 years is not merely a football team. It is a tradition.
A tradition that began with Mr. Nguyen Van Viem's decision on September 8, 2001; continued by the perseverance of Mr. Bui Vinh Cuong and the members over a quarter of a century; and passed down through generations of players at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
I don't know how many more members the Club will have in 5, 10, or 25 years, how many young players will wear the team's jersey, how many exchanges will take place, and how many generations will continue to meet on the field.
But I believe that as long as there are people who love the ball, who are willing to spend time for the team, who consider the Club a beautiful memory of their working life, that flame will continue to be passed on. Because ultimately, what keeps a player with a Club for many years is sometimes not the trophies or the numbers on the scoreboard. It's the feeling of belonging somewhere. For us, that place is the football club of former players of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Thus, the 25 years of the Former Players' Football Club of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are not just measured by time. It is 25 years of meetings, teammates, sunny and rainy seasons on the field – and above all, 25 years of a flame that has never gone out.
| During the exchange, Mr. Ngo Quang Manh, President of the veteran club of Bac Ninh City, presented a commemorative medal and souvenir gift to congratulate the 25th anniversary of the Former Players' Football Club of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On behalf of the entire team, President Bui Vinh Cuong expressed sincere, profound gratitude for the warm sentiments, companionship, and sharing of the veteran football club of Bac Ninh City over the years. President Bui Vinh Cuong shared: 25 years is enough time for hair to turn gray, for a child to reach adulthood, for a young player to become a veteran, enough for one to forget something in life, but for the Former Players' Football Club of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 25 years is an eternal belief and love. We look back on the proud journey to write new chapters for the Club's brighter, more beautiful, and more sustainable development! The past, present, and future always welcome us – those 25 years hold countless emotions. |
