especially regarding the fact that thousands of fans are being admitted into stadiums. 

At the Thien Truong Stadium in Nam Dinh province (Photo: VNA)

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) published an article on the evening of June 5 to cover the first three clashes of V.League’s Matchday 3, in which the author highlighted Viettel midfielder Vu Minh Tuan’s 92nd-minute goal in their 2-1 win against Nam Dinh as “a dramatic ending to a day which saw the V.League resume with fans in the stands following the suspension of matches due to COVID-19.”

The Star, an English-language newspaper in Malaysia, quoted the article “Vietnam football league restarts with packed crowds as COVID-19 risk abates” by Reuters. The article was also cited by some other newspapers and news sites, such as The Viral Print, India Today, and Channel News Asia.

Lach Tray Stadium is filled with fans as Hai Phong FC host HCM City. (Photo: Zing)

“Thousands of fans poured into stadiums in Vietnam on Friday (Jun 5) as the country resumed top-flight soccer without social distancing measures or curbs on crowd sizes, owing to its success in combating the spread of the novel coronavirus,” Reuters wrote.

The article added: “The stadium in Nam Dinh was close to its 30,000 capacity on Friday as the home side lost 2-1 to visitors Viettel in one of the three opening V.League matches, where spectators stood shoulder-to-shoulder with few face masks to be seen. Hand sanitisers were available as stewards performed temperature checks on fans, who were asked to wear masks as they entered.”

Reuters also made a comparison between V.League and other leagues around the world, such as Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga, which it said still cannot return until later this month or have already restarted but with “a haunting atmosphere at empty stadiums and muted goal-scoring celebrations.”

FIFA highlights the return of V.League on its Twitter page.

The International Football Federation (FIFA) also highlighted the return of Vietnam’s top-flight soccer league by posting some photos with a status: “Football is back in Vietnam” on its Twitter page.

Vietnam’s resumption of football events in particular and its effective COVID-19 prevention and control have significantly impressed the world. Not long ago, when the 2020 Vietnamese National Cup returned with fans allowed entering the stadiums, many regional and world newspapers also expressed their admiration.

Reuters news agency has run an article featuring stadiums in Vietnam with thousands of fans on June 5, as the country resumed top-flight football matches without social distancing measures or curbs on crowd sizes.

Matches in Vietnam’s professional league were suspended in March but with success in combating the spread of the novel coronavirus, the country is eagerly pursuing a return to normalcy to get its economy back on track, according to the article.

Hand sanitiser was available at the stadium in Nam Dinh province as stewards performed temperature checks on fans, who were asked to wear masks as they entered, it said.

Vietnam’s national team captain Que Ngoc Hai of Viettel said it was wonderful to see a full stadium. 

“I’m not saying this to compare us with other countries, but Vietnamese football has returned after the COVID outbreak, it showed how well us Vietnamese have fought the virus,” he told Reuters. Nhan Dan/VNA

List of most valuable Vietnamese footballers revealed

Que Ngoc Hai, Nguyen Van Quyet, and Nguyen Tien Linh have been named as the Vietnamese footballers with the highest estimated transfer value, according to sports website Transfermarket.

AFC names 14 players to watch ahead of V.League 1 return

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has listed the most exciting players from each of the country’s 14 V.League 1 football teams ahead of the return of the 2020 season on June 5.