Mỹ Đình National Stadium from above. VNA/VNS File Photo Minh Quyết

Anh Đức

The rematch between Việt Nam and Indonesia, ASEAN's newest and fiercest football rivalry, will not take place at Mỹ Đình National Stadium in Hà Nội on December 15.

This fixture, the fourth time these two teams will meet in 2024, is the pivotal matchup in Group B of the 2024 ASEAN Championship. However, a concert for a reality TV show will be held inside Mỹ Đình, just one week before the match.

As regulations made it clear, Mỹ Đình is not permitted to hold an event inside the stadium 21 days before the match, so the VFF started to inquire with the AFF about changing the venue for the matches with Indonesia and Myanmar.

Việt Trì Stadium in Phú Thọ province, about 100 km away from Hà Nội emerged as the new venue option, with its experience from hosting matches in the 31st SEA Games. However, this complicates things even further. The Timor Leste national football team previously rented Việt Trì Stadium for ASEAN Championship matches, as their home stadium in Timor Leste did not meet the requirements, forcing the VFF to work with the East Timor Football Federation to persuade them to move to another stadium in Việt Nam, should they choose Việt Trì to host Vietnamese matches in the group stage.

The incident shocked supporters and even sparked intense conversations between football devotees and music fans on social media. Football fans argued that a stadium built for sports should be prioritised for sports-related events first, especially for regional competitions such as the coveted ASEAN Championship.

An article in VnExpress stated that the organising board of the National Sports Complex asked the VFF and the Sports Authority of Việt Nam to inspect Mỹ Đình's pitch quality ready to prepare for the 2024 ASEAN Championship. However, none of the parties took responsibility and the stadium rental contract had not yet been signed (and, ironically, the national football team must rent the National Stadium). During the wait, event organisers of the concert reached a deal to rent the stadium out, for a considerably higher fee.

My opinion on this whole issue is that I think this ordeal is not as wholly negative as the angry mob may think. Firstly, the national team fanbase does not revolve around just Hà Nội and Hồ Chí Minh City. Almost every province with a decent stadium would want the stars of the national team to play there and the seats would definitely be filled, which was evident in the 31st SEA Games when matches were held in Nam Định and Việt Trì.

Secondly, with all the issues and scandals regarding the deteriorating quality of the National Stadium, if their management board can further increase revenues by hosting concerts, good for them. Maybe they will use some of that revenue towards maintenance and upgrade efforts, which would be even greater for the future.

Thirdly, if the alternate stadium experiment works, the VFF would not have to always rely on Mỹ Đình to hold matches and Mỹ Đình itself would instead now have to compete to host the national team in the future.

All in all, a win-win for all parties. VNS