Vietnamese Esports: The Roster and Youth Ecosystem Equation Ahead of the Transfer Window

The Vietnamese esports transfer window has never been as noisy as this summer. Huge figures are being announced, blockbuster contracts are being rumored across forums, and there are dozens of recruitment posts for gamers from organizations of all sizes. But amid that chaos of information, there is one big question that few truly ask: After the money has been burned, what do we have left for the future of young players?

I have spent 22 years observing the esports industry, from the early days of organizing small tournaments to witnessing major corporations join the game. I have witnessed many Vietnamese teams spend billions of VND to bring in expensive foreign stars or high-priced domestic players, while neglecting their youth training systems – the very foundation for any sustainable success. People say I write to shock, but I only describe what they turn a blind eye to.

Look at the big picture. Domestic tournaments like the VCS (League of Legends) or the Arena of Glory (Arena of Valor) still attract a large audience, but the professional quality of the top teams is showing signs of stagnation. The dependence on a few outstanding individuals is becoming a tactical bottleneck. When a key player gets injured or suffers a dip in form, the whole team nearly collapses. This shows that Vietnamese teams are severely lacking in roster depth.

Based on my experience following these matches, I notice a paradox: teams are willing to pay exorbitant salaries to an already famous player, but the budget for developing young players in their academies is nearly zero. A concrete figure: the operating cost of a youth team in Vietnam is only about 10-15% of the cost of recruiting a top star. Yet most organizations still choose the more expensive and riskier path.

The biggest gap in the consensus of the Vietnamese esports community is that we focus too much on buying 'stars' and forget about creating 'stars'. We look at the achievements of Korean and Chinese teams, but we ignore the systematic youth training systems that produced those generations of talented players. They don't buy success; they build it.

On the night of June 27th, I didn't sleep. I saw the scoreline before it happened — and I knew I had to speak. I've had late-night calls with young coaches who are struggling day and night to retain talents in the face of poaching by bigger teams with hefty salaries. They told me about young players being 'burned out' too early, being pushed into the first team before they were ready, and then being abandoned when they didn't meet expectations. The post-retirement support system is almost non-existent.

A typical case I followed: a promising 17-year-old mid laner was promoted to the first team of a major organization in Ho Chi Minh City with a 3-year contract. He was expected to become a cornerstone. But after just 6 months, the pressure of results, the harshness of the top-level environment, and the lack of a mentor caused his performance to plummet. By the next transfer window, he was loaned out, and then he practically disappeared from the esports map. That is not a rare story. It is the story of dozens of other young talents I have witnessed.

The career span of an esports player is often much shorter than a football player's, usually lasting only 5 to 7 years at the top. Yet we treat them like disposable tools. We don't have a systematic training system to prepare them mentally, tactically, and also for their career direction after retirement. The result is a terrible waste of talent.

Where could I be wrong? Maybe I'm being too harsh. Maybe some organizations have started to realize the problem and are changing. I see a few teams starting to invest in soft skills and teamwork training programs for young players. I see a few former players starting to come back as coaches, passing on their experience to the next generation. But these signals are still too small compared to the scale of the problem.

Am I being too pessimistic? Possibly. But I trust my realistic eyes. I have seen too many 'sparks' being extinguished due to a lack of a proper development environment.

So where is the way out? The answer lies not in spending more money to buy stars, but in building a sustainable youth training ecosystem. Vietnamese esports organizations need to view their academies as a strategic investment, not a cost to be cut. They need a clear development roadmap for each young player, with mentorship from experienced coaches, and a smooth transition plan from the youth team to the first team.

Guangzhou doesn't lack money; they lack a reason to exist. Vietnamese esports teams are the same. They don't lack money to buy stars; they lack a strategy for sustainable development. Burning money on expensive contracts might create temporary buzz, but it will never create a dominant force. The stands are empty, but the late-night calls of football addicts have never gone silent. This spirit also needs to be applied to esports: we need people who are truly passionate, willing to invest in the future, not those who just burn money for short-term fame.

Vietnamese teams need to learn to 'think long-term'. Instead of spending 10 billion VND on a foreign star, divide that amount into smaller investments for the academy, for scouting, for coach training. Build a healthy competitive culture from the youth level, where talents are challenged and developed every day. Create an environment where young players are not crushed by the pressure of results from their very first days.

I don't need a full stadium to know a truly great team. I also don't need blockbuster contracts to know if an esports organization is serious about its future. It's all in how they treat their young talents. An organization willing to invest in a 16-year-old player without a name, giving him the best development environment, is an organization worthy of fan trust.

Football doesn't deceive anyone. Only people deceive themselves. Esports is the same. We can fool ourselves into thinking that buying a star will solve all our problems. But the truth will always show up on the leaderboard, in the team's form, and in the emptiness of the stands when the team no longer has a reason to exist. This transfer window, pay attention to the teams that are not noisy, the teams that are quietly investing in their academies. Those are the teams that are on the right track.