HAGL football club (HAGL FC) is a club in Gia Lai province. Before it had been supported and run by HAGL Group, its name was “Gia Lai “. In the early days under HAGL Group’s management, the club took part in the National First Division but it wasn’t impressive to people all over the country. Therefore, chairman Doan Nguyen Duc (or “Bau Duc” or “Ba Duc”) conducted the first strategy before the football season 2002 that was an agreement with Kiatisuk Senamuang- a forward and team leader of Thai national team. Kiatisuk was the best football player in Southeast Asia at that time. It was really a shock for Vietnamese football and no one thought that The Vietnamese national championship could attract a level player like Kiatisuk. On the headline of all magazines and newspapers in Thailand, people inserted the large headlines : “Who is Hoang Anh Gia Lai? Where is Gia Lai ?”.