Phan Thanh Hùng

Phan Thanh Hùng was born on 30 July 1960 in Da Nang. He came through the youth system of his home club and played for Quảng Nam-Đà Nẵng from 1980 to 1992. He was known as a versatile player who usually played in midfield or as a forward but could also fill in at the back.

His finest season as a player came in 1992, when Quảng Nam-Đà Nẵng won the national championship and reached the semi-finals of the Asian Cup Winners' Cup, one of the strongest continental performances by a Vietnamese club at that time. He was called up to the national team in 1993 at the age of 32 and won five caps. His only international goal came on 13 April 1993 in Doha, in a 3-2 defeat by Singapore in qualifying for the 1994 World Cup.

After he stopped playing, Hùng began coaching the youth teams of Da Nang and then took over the senior side from 2007 to 2009. During this period he also worked as an assistant to the Portuguese coach Henrique Calisto with the Vietnam national team, which won the AFF Cup in 2008.

In 2010 he became head coach of Hà Nội T&T, the club that later became Hà Nội FC. He led the team to the V-League title in 2010 and again in 2013, and to the national Super Cup in 2010. Vietnamese reports credit him with laying the foundations of the club that went on to dominate the league, and with giving it a short passing style that was admired across the country. He left the club in 2015.

In September 2012 he was appointed head coach of both the Vietnam national team and the under-23 team. Vietnam performed poorly at the AFF Cup that year and he resigned soon afterwards.

From 2016 to 2020 he coached Than Quảng Ninh, winning the National Cup and the Super Cup in 2016. He left at the end of the 2020 season, after which the club was dissolved because of financial problems. Following a short spell in charge of Becamex Bình Dương, he returned to his home club in Da Nang. In his later years he served as technical director of the Da Nang club and director of youth training at the Da Nang Youth Football Training Centre, and he was a member of the ninth National Coaches Council from 2022.

Hùng spent most of his life in Da Nang, the city where he was born, played and later trained young footballers. Colleagues and former players described him as warm, dedicated and always ready to help younger coaches. When he left Hà Nội, his assistant Chu Đình Nghiêm was reported to have been reluctant to take over the head coach's job straight away, out of respect for him. Little else about his private life has been published.

Phan Thanh Hùng died at his home in Da Nang at around 9pm on 11 August 2026, aged 66, after a long illness. VnExpress reported that he had laryngeal cancer and had undergone surgery, and that after treatment in Da Nang and then Hà Nội he was brought home to spend his last days with his family. Thanh Niên described the illness as liver cancer. In February 2026 he had stepped down from his posts in Da Nang to concentrate on treatment.

Two days before his death, on 9 August, Vietnam Football Federation vice president Nguyễn Xuân Vũ visited him at home and presented him with the commemorative medal For the Cause of Vietnamese Football, in recognition of more than 30 years of service to the game. Tributes came from former players and colleagues, including Chu Đình Nghiêm and former Hà Nội defender Nguyễn Quốc Long, and from the Da Nang club. Funeral arrangements had not been announced when his death was first reported.

Hùng is remembered as one of the most accomplished coaches in Vietnamese football. His two V-League titles with Hà Nội T&T helped turn the capital club into a leading force, and his cup double with Than Quảng Ninh in 2016 brought silverware to a provincial side. As a player he was part of the Quảng Nam-Đà Nẵng team that won the 1992 championship and reached an Asian semi-final.

He also left a mark through the young players he trained in Da Nang over many years, and through his work on the National Coaches Council. Thanh Niên described him as one of the most experienced, dedicated and successful coaches in the history of Vietnamese football.