VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) – the organizer of the friendly match between Arsenal and the Vietnam national football squad – is facing a "war" with the management board of My Dinh National Stadium to lower the stadium rents.

My Dinh Stadium.

In those days, not only the local press and public opinion, but the foreign media were also interested in the fight between the VFF and the My Dinh stadium after the stadium managers asked for high rents from the friendly game between Arsenal and the national team in July.

The management board of My Dinh stadium asked for rents of VND1.5 billion. This is the highest price ever, which is five times higher than the rents for the friendly match between Vietnam and Indonesia late last year.

This is a big trouble for the VFF because it had not calculated of such rents for the stadium. The federation said the total spending for the friendly game is about VND40 billion ($2 million) and it will surely get big loss from this game.

The VFF is really frustrated and it asked for the intervention of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The federation argued that the My Dinh stadium is the national assets so the stadium managers have to create conditions for the Vietnamese team’s competition. Moreover, the friendly against Arsenal is considered the “game of history” in Vietnam, which has attracted huge interest from the public.

A member of the organizing board said that if My Dinh stadium overcharges, the friendly game may be cancelled and the VFF will have to pay compensation for Arsenal.

Speaking to the press, Director of the My Dinh National Sports Complex – Can Van Nghia - said that the preparations for the friendly match is very meticulous, so the rents cannot be equivalent to that for a normal game. The price of VND1.5 billion is reasonable.

Nghia also repeatedly said that the VFF and the organizing board can earn dozens of billion dong from tickets and they have no reason to not share the revenue with the My Dinh stadium.

Before the explanation of the VFF and the game organizers about their loss of over ten of billion dong and the political meaning of this friendly game, Nghia stated: "We do not care about the profit or loss of the organizers. We need share to prepare well for the game."

Nghia told a newspaper that this friendly game is not for the political task at all, but a simple sports event.

To resolve the tension, the VFF will work with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism today, June 17.

According to some sources, the VFF will only accept the rents of VND600 million ($30,000). As a member of the organizing board, in difficult conditions and its suffering of heavy losses, the rents of VND600 million represents the cooperation of the VFF and the game organizers.

Fans hope that the tension will be resolved so the “game of history” will take place smoothly.

Nguyen Dung