According to the announcement of VPF on the morning of September 16, VFF approved the proposal to change the promotion/relegation slots in Vietnam's professional football tournaments. Accordingly, V-League 2025/26 has 1.5 relegation slots; First Division 2025/26 has 1.5 promotion slots (clubs that win direct promotion slots or participate in the play-off must meet the criteria according to the Club Licensing Regulations) and 1 relegation slot.

In addition, to ensure the planning of the number of clubs participating in the National First Division, the 2026 National Second Division will have 3 promotion slots.

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Cong Phuong's team aims to be promoted to V-League next season.

Thus, compared to the original plan, instead of 2 direct relegation slots, this season's V-League only has 1.5 slots. This is good news for teams aiming to stay in the LPBank V-League.

On the other hand, the opportunity for the First Division teams to advance to the V-League has become more difficult when from 2 direct promotion slots, there is now only 1 for the champion team. The second-placed team must win the play-off match with the second-to-last team in the V-League standings. In the history of the tournament, very few First Division teams have won this "life-or-death" match. Most recently, Dong Nai (renamed from Binh Phuoc ) of Cong Phuong lost to SHB Da Nang in the play-off match of the 2024/25 season.

The fact that the First Division has only 1.5 places left is bad news for teams aiming for promotion such as Dong Nai , Bac Ninh , and PVF-CAND. The race for the championship in the 2025/26 First Division is therefore also predicted to be very fierce.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/doi-bong-cua-hlv-park-hang-seo-cong-phuong-nhan-tin-du-2443024.html