Home turf

Ngọc Lâm Secondary School will defend their title at a tournament for the U13 students, which will kick off June 1 in Đắk Lắk Province.

The tournament, which is known as the Yamaha Cup, gathers eight teams that successfully qualified in local matches in March.

In the opening match, a team from Đắk Lắk, which will be identified after a later tournament, will play Đà Nẵng representative Ngô Thì Nhậm Secondary School in Group A, which also includes Cần Thơ Province’s Chu Văn An and Ngọc Lâm of Hà Nội.

Group B includes Mai Xuân Thưởng from Nha Trang, Nguyễn Thị Định from HCM City, Nghi Long from Nghệ An and Trần Hưng Đạo from Hải Dương.

The winners of the festival will enjoy an exchange tour to Japan, where they will take part in friendly matches against local teams.

The aim of the festival is to create a professional playing field for young players to learn about fair play and respect.

The festival, co-organised by Thiếu Niên Tiền Phong (Youth Pioneers) newspaper and Thể Thao 24h Joinstock Company, is part of a Yamaha programme titled “For the Future of Việt Nam Football”.

“We are really glad to receive a very positive response and huge support from all schools, parents and other organisations, which is a great motivation for us to constantly contribute to the development of sport activities and create a healthy social cohesion,” said Yano Takeshi, general director of Yamaha Vietnam, at a press conference yesterday in Hà Nội. — VNS