Thao Tran, Old Dominion Soccer Club’s specialist goalkeeper coach/trainer, grew up in a family with a strong soccer tradition, and played professionally in Vietnam from 1976 to 1991. He coached national teams from 1991 to 2002. His father was a member of South Vietnam’s soccer team in the 1960s. All six of Tran’s brothers played soccer professionally for different League A clubs in Vietnam. In those six, three became famous goalkeepers.
Thao started his soccer career as a goalkeeper at age 14. Lacking easy access to soccer equipment, with the assistance of his father he developed his own equipment and drills in his early years. Tran always wore a black goalkeeper’s jersey when he competed, thus earning the nickname “Black Spider”. Due to his great reflexes, Tran was noticed by his home town soccer team’s head coach. He joined the Ðồng Nai soccer team in 1976, and together with the team, participated in the Cửu Long League of southern Vietnam. Ðồng Nai’s soccer team was not in the top tier of the best soccer clubs in southern Vietnam, but the performance of their new star goalkeepersignificantly increased their popularity and fan base.
In 1980, Tran joined Ngân Hàng, his first significant contract with one of the big Saigon teams, where he helped the team win the national AI cup. From 1983 to 1984, he played for Hoá Chất in Saigon. He transferred to another Saigon team: (Công Nghiệp Thực Phảm) in 1984 and played there until 1987, once again helping the team to win the national AI cup. His goalkeeping performance was so outstanding that he was selected for the Vietnamese national team in 1988 and played there until 1990.
After his retirement, Tran took a job as head coach of theVietnamese U15-U18 teams from 1991 to 1995. He coached theVietnamese U35-U45 team from 1996 to 2002. From 1990 to 2002, he also managed many regular season competitions and tournaments throughout Vietnam. In August 2008 Tran accepted a position with Old Dominion Soccer Club as their Goalkeeper Coach/Trainer.
