Nam Định

Fixture lists against Sông Lam Nghệ An still carry the label "Đại chiến" — the Grand Battle — a name locals reach for because no single derby tag has ever stuck, the way it has with Hồng Lĩnh Hà Tĩnh on the calendar too. That rivalry outlasted the club's own name several times over.

The nickname "Thép Xanh" stuck to the club before the sponsor did; alongside it, supporters still call the side "Dũng Sỹ Thành Nam" — the warriors of the Southern Citadel.

The club won its first title in 1985, under the Công Nghiệp Hà Nam Ninh name, with Nguyễn Văn Dũng among the players who mattered most that season; he later returned to the club as manager. Four years after that title the club was dissolved, coming back in 1991. Relegation followed in 2010, then a drop to the third tier in 2011 — from there it took until 2017, and a Second Division title, to work back to the top flight.

The Vietnamese Cup arrived in 2007, a 1–0 final win over Bình Định, but the club's biggest stretch has come since: the V.League 1 title in 2023–24, sealed with a 5–1 win over Khánh Hòa, and a Super Cup won in 2024 after Nam Định had finished runners-up for it in 2007 and again in 2025. Thiên Trường Stadium, holding some 30,000, has been packed for most of it. The club goes into the new season defending that league crown.