The Democratic Republic of Vietnam national football team () was the national team of the communist-controlled Democratic Republic of Vietnam (known as "North Vietnam") from 1956 to 1975.
It existed side by side with a separate South Vietnam team, which already appeared in 1949 before the country's division and represented the capitalist-oriented southern portion of Vietnam. Unlike South Vietnam (which was a member of both FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation), North Vietnam's lack of diplomatic recognition on the part of many other states initially prevented it from joining either FIFA or the AFC. However, North Vietnam became a member of FIFA in 1964. Despite this, it never participated in qualification for the FIFA World Cup or the AFC Asian Cup, and its international matches were mainly limited to Communist and Communist-sympathizing countries during its relatively short-lived existence.
The North Vietnam football team played its last game in 1970 and ceased to exist with the unification of North and South Vietnam in 1975 (officially in 1976), when the Vietnam War ended. Even though the North emerged victorious in the war, the current Vietnam national football team is considered a successor to the South Vietnam team (not the North Vietnam team), since unified Vietnam inherited South Vietnam's membership of FIFA and the AFC.
Although "North Vietnamese" government was proclaimed in 1945, their first international match was against China in 1956, two years after Vietnam was divided and their existence was recognized. Their head coach, Trðáng Tấn Bá»Âu, played a 3-2-5 (WM) formation but the game ended in a 3âÂÂ5 defeat. The team recorded their first victory in 1960 with a 3âÂÂ1 win against Mongolia.
Since North Vietnam was not a member of major international federations such as FIFA (until 1964), the AFC, or the International Olympic Committee, its football team participated in very few international competitions. Their most notorious international participations were in the football tournament of the Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO). North Vietnam proved to be a relatively strong side in the GANEFO competition, finishing fourth in the 1963 edition and third in the 1966 edition. They also earned third place in the football-only GANEFO event that took place in 1965.
After Vietnamese reunification, both North and South Vietnamese teams were superseded by the Vietnam national football team, which represents the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam. With unified Vietnam having taken over South Vietnam's membership of FIFA and the AFC, its historical football record is nominally merged with that of South Vietnam, while North Vietnam is treated as a separate team.
The home kit of North Vietnam was similar to the kit of the Soviet Union consisting of a red shirt, with the legend "VIET NAM DCCH" ("Democratic Republic of Vietnam") across the front in white, white shorts and white-red socks. The away kit was a white shirt with "VIET NAM DCCH" across the chest in red, red shorts and red-white socks.
The goalkeeper's kit was a black shirt with a white collar, black shorts and socks.
The list shown below shows the North Vietnam national football team all-time international record against opposing teams.
This is a list of the North Vietnam national football team results.