My Dinh Stadium is about to be equipped with VAR technology.

The AFC has decided to use the VAR technology in the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in Asia. Participating countries that do not have this technology will have to play on neutral stadiums.

My Dinh - Vietnam’s largest stadium - is currently not installed with the VAR technology yet. As a result, the Vietnamese football team may lose the right to play at home in the upcoming 2022 World Cup final qualifying round.

However, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF)’s General Secretary Le Hoai Anh recently said that the VFF would borrow the VAR system from the AFC in the form of temporary import and re-export to serve the upcoming games of the Vietnamese team, to ensure compliance with the AFC regulations.

According to Mr. Le Hoai Anh, the AFC has a unit specializing in providing ARV technology and equipment as well as operating the VAR system. This team will operate the system at the national stadium of My Dinh to serve matches held in Vietnam.

VFF Vice President Tran Quoc Tuan told VietNamNet that the VFF will soon receive AFC’s instructions on the installation and operation of the VAR technology.

In the next few days, this technology will be jointly installed by the VFF and AFC at My Dinh Stadium. After that, the AFC will conduct a survey and evaluation of conditions of the stadiums proposed by its members to ensure whether these stadiums are ready to deploy the VAR technology or not.

The Vietnam national football team has applied for a special mechanism on the prevention of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Another issue for the Vietnamese national football team is that after returning from the away game, the team will not be able to play the second leg at home if they have to pass 21 days of quarantine according to the current regulations of the Vietnamese Ministry of Health.

"We will seek guidance from the health authorities on this issue. Members of the team have been fully vaccinated with two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. If we implement the 'bubble' management mechanism, that might be a good option," said Mr. Le Hoai Anh.

At the 2022 World Cup second qualifying round, the AFC established a so-called "bubble" mechanism, under which football teams had to perform a completely closed circle in both playing and training as they were not allowed to leave that “bubble”.

After the VFF reports the issue to the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will ask the competent authorities for a special mechanism for the Vietnamese team as well as the guest teams, AFC officials, foreign referees... when they come to Vietnam on duty.

Recently, after returning home from the United Arab Emirates, the team was under 7 days of quarantine at a concentrated quarantine site and then they conducted self-quarantine for another 7 days at a hotel before returning to their family.

Huy Phong

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