Ho Chi Minh City

On 1 November 1975, the Saigon Port Workers Football Club was officially established. The team quickly became well-known in Southern Vietnam, together with Hải Quan - their local rivals.

In 1980, Saigon Port was one of 10 clubs based in Southern Vietnam to participate in the 1980 Vietnamese National A1 League - the first football championship in Vietnam. In 1983, former defender Phạm Huỳnh Tam Lang returned from Germany and was appointed as a head coach for the club. In 1984, CSG began to focus on recruiting young players from their youth academy, including Đặng Trần Chỉnh, Hà Vương Ngầu Nại, Nguyễn Hoàng Châu, Phạm Văn Tám, ... This squad was later regarded as the club's "Golden Generation". Among them, midfielder Hà Vương Ngầu Nại received recognition by becoming the top scorer of the 1989 V-League, scoring a total of 10 goals. However, until the end of 1990, the team had not won any more titles besides the 1986 V-League.^[]

From 1990-2001, many players of the team were called up to the Vietnam national team, including Nguyễn Hồng Phẩm, Hà Vương Ngầu Nại, Lư Đình Tuấn, Hồ Văn Lợi, Huỳnh Hồng Sơn. In 2001, under the new name Saigon Port Football Club, they won another league title in the 2001-02 season. However, they were relegated to the First Division the following season, returning to the V-League again in 2005.

The Saigon Port Corporation's officials claimed at the end of 2008 that they no longer had enough money to support the club. At that time, they only had one primary sponsor, the Vietnam Steel Company, the club's leadership decided to alter the team's name in order to operate on a professional model. The name Ho Chi Minh City Football Club was adopted with the permission of the club's management unit, the Ho Chi Minh City Football Company Ltd, and the Ho Chi Minh City Football Federation, with a 15 billion Vietnam Dong investment for the team.

Because of their devotion to the heritage connected with the name Saigon Port, the club's supporters have expressed disappointment and resistance to the decision to alter the name. Yet, the club's objective was to become a major football club in Ho Chi Minh City, as well as to promote the acquisition of government and commercial aid. The club officially changed its name to Ho Chi Minh City Football Club on 22 January 2009, with the Vietnam Steel Corporation serving as the team's primary sponsor.^[]

The supporters were vehemently opposed to the name change. The whole Fans Association Executive Committee resigned, and the Saigon Port Football Supporters Association dissolved, generating problems for the team in its first season under the new name. They were relegated to Vietnamese Football League Second Division after finishing at the 13th place in the 2009 season. In 2012, the club finished last in the Vietnamese First League. After only one season at the Vietnamese Second League, Ho Chi Minh returned to the First League in 2015. With the ambition to return to top fight, Ho Chi Minh City received big investments and successfully gained a promotion to the V.League 1 after winning the 2016 V.League 2.

Following returning to the V.League 1 in 2017, the team focused more on drawing spectators to the stadium by listening to supporters' criticism and renovating the stadium, stands, and so on. As a consequence, the club's reputation among supporters progressively improved. After that, the Ho Chi Minh City Football Club Fans Association was formed. The squad finished 12th in the league standings in 2017.