Viettel

1954–1968: Formation and rising

On 23 September 1954, according to the appointment of the Director of the General Department of Politics at that time, General Nguyễn Chí Thanh, Đoàn công tác Thể dục Thể thao Quân đội (Thể Công) was established. Thể Công is short for Thể dục Thể thao Công tác Đội (Physical Education and Sports Team Work) and was managed by Ministry of Defence.

The first Thể Công team include 23 people of the cadre from The Army Officer College No1 and was divided into three teams: 11 football, 5 basketball and 6 volleyball players. In addition, all three teams also have a special reserve player, Lý Đức Kim, who knows how to play football, both basketball and volleyball, and has the ability to be a nurse and good logistics. Kim also has the above support functions.

The first main lineup of the Thể Công football team include: Lê Nhâm; Nguyễn Văn Hiếu; Phạm Ngọc Quế; Nguyễn Thiêm; Ngô Xuân Quýnh; Phạm Mạnh Soạn; Trương Vĩnh Thắng; Nguyễn Bá Khánh; Nguyễn Văn Bưởi (captain); Nguyễn Thông (player-coach); Vũ Tâm (as Phạm Vinh). Beside, Nguyễn Văn Thành (as Tí Bồ) was joined later, was a famous player of the first Vietnamese footballers generation in the 1930s to 1950s period.

More than a month later, on 25 October, in the first football match held since the liberation of Hanoi at Hàng Đẫy Stadium, Thể Công had the first match in its history against Trần Hưng Đạo University team, including players from the capital's working class. The team won with a score of 1–0 with the only goal of the match being scored in the 30th minute by the striker captain Nguyễn Văn Bưởi.

In 1955, Vietnam's first football tournament was held in Haiphong with the name Hoà Bình League. Thể Công participated with both their main and reserves team and both teams won championships of two A and B classes.

In 1956, for the first time, the North Vietnam national football team was convened for international duty. At the age of 38, Tí Bồ was still called to the national team along with nine other Thể Công players to participate in his first tour in China. He became one of the first players of the Vietnamese team and the oldest Vietnamese national player ever.

During the following years, Thể Công won the North Vietnam Class A League in 1956 and 1958. At that time, Công An Hải Phòng and Công An Hà Nội has been their main and traditional rival in Northern Vietnam football. Three clubs played are also the founding members in the highest Vietnamese system league in the mid-1950s and became the Big 3 clubs in the early Vietnam football period. The duel between Thể Công and Công An Hải Phòng was referred to as the Northern Derby, but the Hanoi Derby with Công An Hà Nội was more attention because they are always counter Thể Công by their good defense system.

In 1965, the Military Sports Unit was dissolved due to the impact of American bombings in North Vietnam, leaving Thể Công facing the risk of dissolution. Thanks to the assistance of General Bằng Giang, Thể Công was allowed to continue its operations under the auspices of the Army Officers' School for a period of five years, thus competed until 1970 under the name Trường Sĩ Quan Lục Quân.

1970–2000: Golden decade and dominance in the league

In the 1960s and 1970s, Thể Công dominated the North Vietnam Football Championship with eight consecutive titles from 1971 to 1978. During that time, the typical generation of Thể Công players were Nguyễn Thế Anh (Ba Đẻn), Nguyễn Cao Cường, Quản Trọng Hùng, Vương Tiến Dũng, Nguyễn Trọng Giáp, Vũ Mạnh Hải,... with the majority being young players who went to long-term training in North Korea in 1967 and when they returned home, they were the most outstanding and typical players in the country.

After the country was unified, the Vietnamese National Championship was launched. Thể Công remained one of the strongest football clubs in Vietnam, winning 5 national titles during the 1980s and 1990s. Thể Công players have often been the core of the national team and contributed many players in the golden age of Vietnamese football, including goalkeeper Trần Tiến Anh, Đỗ Mạnh Dũng, Nguyễn Mạnh Cường, Nguyễn Hồng Sơn, Trương Việt Hoàng, Nguyễn Đức Thắng, Phạm Như Thuần, Triệu Quang Hà, Đặng Phương Nam, and Vũ Công Tuyền. Thể Công was one of the longest standing teams in the V.League until the team was relegated in 2004.

2004–2008: Relegation and promoted back

In 2004, exactly 50 years after its foundation, Thể Công finished 11th out of 12 in the 2004 V-League and was relegated to the lower division. The team performed poorly partly due to the policy of not recruiting foreign players, in contrast to all other teams in the league at that time. In the following season, the club changed its name to Thể Công Viettel, (Viettel is the Army Electronics and Telecommunication Corporation) and is partially managed by this unit. However, many comments suggested that the club should return to its old name.

On 19 January 2007, the club gained their promototion back to V-League after winning over Tây Ninh 5–3 in the promotion play-offs. Immediately thereafter, the official team name was reversed back to Thể Công.