Coach Polking is determined to stay at CAHN Club, does the Singapore team have a chance?

Coach Mano Polking is highly appreciated by the Singapore Football Federation

The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is undergoing a complete restructuring under the leadership of new President Forrest Li, a big businessman with ambitions to elevate the island nation's football. Coach Polking is on FAS' radar.

According to many sources, FAS has approached the head coach of the Hanoi Police Club (CAHN) Mano Polking, after reviewing his impressive professional resume: winning the AFF Cup with Thailand (2020, 2022), bringing CAHN to the podium of glory at the Vietnam National Cup and winning the runner-up position in the Southeast Asian C1 Cup in the 2024-2025 season. Polking is the type of coach that fits the direction that Singaporean football is lacking, someone with experience in the Southeast Asian region, a modern football philosophy and the ability to rebuild the team.

However, this is not a simple decision. In Vietnam, Coach Polking is not simply a successful coach. He is the core in the process of professionalization and building a long-term identity for CAHN, one of the football projects with the clearest strategic depth in the V-League today.

CAHN's leadership does not consider him a "foreign coach", but rather someone who helps create a long-term football direction: focusing on developing playing style, investing systematically in assistants, analyzing data, and improving the team's operating standards both on and off the field.

With the players, coach Mano Polking established a close connection, building a team culture based on discipline, trust and professionalism, key factors in the success of CAHN Club last season.

From a personal perspective, he is in a position of profound influence in the entire CAHN system. This is no longer a normal leadership stage, but a fundamental role.

Factors to consider

On the FAS side, they can provide coach Mano Polking with a stable working environment, attractive remuneration and the goal of participating in the World Cup. But the question is which is the deeper challenge, reviving a team that is losing its direction, or moving forward with a team that is growing stronger every day, reaching the top of the region, aiming for the Asian arena?

Photo: Minh Tu

Although the final decision rests with coach Mano Polking, the choice is not simply between two teams. It is a choice between two development philosophies, between restarting in a new environment or continuing to complete a project that has been built with passion.

After the final match of the Southeast Asian Cup C1 in May, Coach Mano Polking proudly shared on his personal page about the brave fighting spirit of his students, a CAHN Club team that clearly matured through each round. And in that development journey, he was not only the driver, but also the architect who laid the first bricks, the one who built the foundation for a team with aspirations to go far.

With all the foundations gradually forming at CAHN Club, it will not be easy for Mr. Polking to leave a journey that he himself is the one who guides and inspires, to leave a project that he not only leads but also entrusts his passion as a future creator, for a Vietnamese football club with the aspiration to reach the continental level.