About

The Republic of Vietnam national football team (Vietnamese: Đội tuyển bóng đá quốc gia Việt Nam Cộng hòa) was the national association football team representing South Vietnam (as well as the State of Vietnam prior to 1955, and the Republic of South Vietnam in 1975). South Vietnam joined International Association Football Federation (FIFA) in 1952 and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 1954, South Vietnamese football association was treated by these bodies as the only legitimate Vietnamese one as South Vietnam claimed sovereignty over all of Vietnam from 1949 to 1975. The South Vietnam team appeared under French Indochina in 1947 before a Vietnamese government reprsenting it appeared in 1949 (future South Vietnam), it existed side by side with a separate North Vietnam team after Vietnam gained independence from France and got divided in 1954, which represented the Communist-controlled northern portion of the country from 1956 to 1976, and which unlike its southern counterpart was never allowed to join FIFA or the AFC. South Vietnam took part in the first two Asian Cups finals (1956 and 1960), finishing last both times. The South Vietnam team played their last game in 1975 and ceased to exist when the North and South regions combined into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976 after the end of the Vietnam War, with the Vietnam national team replacing both the North and South teams. The unified republic was allowed to keep South Vietnam's membership of FIFA and the AFC, resulting in the South Vietnam team's historical record usually being counted as part of the overall record of the Vietnam national team, while results for the North Vietnam team are not commonly included as part of the latter.